Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The coronavirus pandemic helped expose the best qualities of the Belarusian healthcare system, Healthcare Minister Vladimir Karanik told reporters while inspecting the new building of the Borisov Central District Hospital on 23 July, BelTA has learned.

“All healthcare professionals regardless of their specialization – pulmonologists, surgeons, emergency doctors – joined this fight and performed their duty with exceptional professionalism and responsibility,” Vladimir Karanik said.

A series of events to honor frontline healthcare workers started at a district level on 23 July. “These are more than 2,000 healthcare professionals, including nurses, nurse's aides, doctors, department heads; they will get the rewards they have deserved,” the minister added.

Vladimir Karanik expressed gratitude to absolutely all healthcare workers for keeping the healthcare system running in that difficult time. None of the specialized national research centers was re-purposed, which means that the primary care performed all its tasks amid the pandemic.

At present the majority of hospitals across the country is returning to their usual operation mode.

According to head of the Main Healthcare Directorate of Minsk Oblast Natalya Boyarskaya, the region's frontline healthcare workers received a total of Br20 million in bonuses.

Vladimir Karanik also recalled the instruction of the head of state to provide healthcare workers with the most advanced equipment and decent working conditions.

An agreement to launch joint master's and postgraduate programs was signed by Belarusian State University (BSU) and Dalian University of Technology (DUT).

The heads of the two universities Andrei Korol and Guo Dongming signed the document during an online meeting, BelTA learned from the the press service of Belarusian State University.

The document provides for strengthening and expanding bilateral cooperation, joint training of specialists at the second stage of education and personnel of highest qualifications. The programs will be running at the joint Chinese-Belarusian DUT-BSU Institute in Dalian, China. The working language of the programs is English, the additional languages are Russian and Chinese,” the press service informed.

Graduates will receive diplomas of the two universities. Postgraduates will also have an opportunity to get the Candidate of Sciences diploma after a successful theses defense and the corresponding approval by the Higher Attestation Commission of Belarus. Training of postgraduates will strengthen the scientific potential of the two countries through joint coordination of scientific activities. The agreement provides for dual guidance of thesis research by scholars of the two universities.

Belarusian State University and the Dalian University of Technology have been cooperating since 2007. Over the time the two universities have signed agreements on sci-tech and education cooperation. The Institute of Belarusian State University and the Dalian University of Technology was set up in China in 2017 and the Belarusian-Chinese DUT-BSU Institute in Belarus in 2019. Over 300 students from Belarus and China are currently studying in the joint institutes.

Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei will pay a working visit to Latvia on 24 July, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its Facebook page, BelTA has learned.

In Riga, Vladimir Makei will hold talks with his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics.

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko was expected to visit Latvia in April. However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the visit was postponed.

In March, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Latvian President Egils Levits had a telephone conversation at the initiative of the Latvian side. The heads of state discussed the main aspects of bilateral cooperation, mainly trade and economic cooperation. The neighboring countries are primarily interested in cargo transportation, energy transit, industrial cooperation.

At the end of June, Aleksandr Lukashenko congratulated Egils Levits on the 65th birthday. The president said he expects to continue working together to strengthen good-neighborly relations, which should be facilitated by the planned high-level contacts. “I hope that we will be able to meet in the hospitable Riga soon to discuss ways to deepen cooperation between Belarus and Latvia,” the Belarusian head of state stressed.

The Belarusian national airline Belavia will resume regular flights on the route Minsk-Yerevan-Minsk on 30 July, BelTA learned from Belavia's Facebook account.

Flights will be operated daily. Departure time from Minsk is at 22.40, arrival time in Yerevan is at 2.45. The return flight from Yerevan is scheduled for 3.35 with the arrival in Minsk National Airport at 5.45 (local time).

Tickets are available at the website of the airline www.belavia.by.

Belavia reminds travelers that entry restrictions are in place in Armenia. The airline recommends checking the information before buying a ticket.

Belarus is taking the first steps to train its own cosmonaut, BelTA learned from Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Gusakov in an interview.

The official said: “In my opinion, we should definitely expand the country's presence in outer space. The plan to train and send the first cosmonaut of sovereign Belarus into outer space may seem overly ambitious. However, the first steps towards this goal are already being made.”

Vladimir Gusakov met with Director General of the state corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin in January 2020. The sides reached an agreement that Belarusian scientists will visit the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center in order to get familiar with its operation. The Russian side received a list of the NASB employees the academy intends to send there. The organizations include the Radiobiology Institute, the Central Botanical Garden, the Applied Science Center for Bioresources, and the Physiology Institute. These NASB representatives can be later viewed as potential Belarusian candidates, who can be trained in the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center and participate in space flights. The possibility of evaluating their fitness for space flights is being discussed.

The Belarusian scientists will visit the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center once all the restrictions caused by the spread of the coronavirus infection are lifted. The possibility of participation of NASB representatives in Roscosmos' ground experiments using research products of Belarusian scientists will be discussed during the visit as well.

Vladimir Gusakov pointed out that sons of Belarus had already been to outer space. The cosmonauts Piotr Klimuk and Vladimir Kovalenok completed their space missions during the USSR times. Oleg Novitsky is a Russian pilot-cosmonaut. Other cosmonauts have Belarusian roots, too – Valentina Tereshkova, Oleg Artemyev, Anton Shkaplerov, and Georgy Grechko. “Belarusians, who work as design engineers, technical engineers, scientists and heads of organizations and enterprises, have contributed and keep contributing to the development of the space industry in the USSR and Russia,” the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus stressed.

The Belavia national air carrier has extended suspension of flights to a number of destinations, BelTA learned from the official website of the airline.

Flights to Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn will be suspended till 28 July, to all destinations in Russia, as well as Tashkent and Larnaca till 31 July, to all destinations in Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as Vienna till 15 August and Ashgabat till 1 September.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule the flight till 31 December 2020. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers. Customers will be able to change the date of travel only once.

Belarus is carrying out international research on Elenagen, a plasmid (supercoiled circular DNA) encoding gene, the DNA vaccine to treat cancer, Director of the Alexandrov National Cancer Center, Doctor of Medicine Sergei Polyakov said, BelTA has learned.

“Belarus is carrying out international clinical trials of Elenagen, a DNA vaccine that is meant to enhance the effect of chemotherapy in treating late-stage cancer resistant to standard treatment modalities,” Sergei Polyakov said.

In his words, Belarusian cancer specialists have studied the most promising immune therapies around the world and chose the Elenagen DNA vaccine. “They assessed hundreds of potential anti-tumor drugs using the following criteria: a high degree of safety, ability to enhance the effect of chemotherapy, economic feasibility and accessibility of the future product and its novelty. The DNA vaccine meets all these criteria,” the director of the research center said.

Preclinical testing has revealed that the drug can reduce/revert the tumor grade. Extensive safety research has been conducted. The administration of the vaccine has not resulted in any substantial side effects. The extended phase I clinical trials showed that even if used alone, Elenagen halted the progression of cancer pathogenesis for more than two months in patients who have exhausted all standard treatment options. It is expected that Elenagen can enhance the effect of standard treatment modalities.

Professor Sergei Krasny, MD, PhD, DSc, Deputy Director of the Alexandrov National Cancer Center, Belarusian doctors developed a research protocol that got a peer review of leading cancer centers – New York University and MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA). The study was unanimously approved by the Belarus Healthcare Ministry.

Elenagen was developed by CureLab Oncology, Inc., a Boston-based biotech startup which provided the product to Belarusian counterparts. According to Dr. Alex Shneider, CEO of CureLab Oncology, there were plans to start Phase II clinical trials of Elenagen in the USA and many other countries. However, after studying the research protocol presented by Belarusian scientists and after assessing Belarus' cancer research capacities and competencies, a decision was made to start trials in Belarus, with other leading cancer centers joining later.

The project to study the effects of Elenagen was launched by the Alexandrov National Cancer Center and Minsk City Cancer Center in April 2020.

Inoperable late-stage cancer patients with triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, stomach cancer and pancreas cancer are randomized and subsequently receive either standard chemotherapy or chemotherapy combined with Elenagen. For each disease, the experimental and control groups are compared using a number of parameters. One can also expect a reversal of a tumor grade to an operable stage, which would make the tumor surgically removable.

The number of observers at polling stations during the current election campaign will be reduced due to the epidemiological situation.

Such a decision was adopted at a meeting of the Belarusian Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on 22 July, BelTA has learned.

CEC head Lidia Yermoshina proposed to reduce the number of observers to five on the main voting day, and to three during the early voting time. “The matter is about presence. The accreditation of observers does not stop,” she said.

She recalled that the Healthcare Ministry has developed recommendations to prevent the spread of respiratory infections (including COVID-19) during the presidential election. The recommendations include social distancing at a polling stations. Charis and tables of the precinct commission members, places for observers should be at least one meter apart.

The changes do not apply to international observers, proxies of presidential candidates, members of the House of Representatives and members of the Council of the Republic, members of local councils who can observe the election in accordance with their status, and also registered media. Journalists will be able to visit polling stations.

As of 21 July, the CEC accredited 29 international observers from the CIS Executive Committee.

BelTA reported earlier that the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus scheduled the presidential election for 9 August. According to the timetable, early voting is scheduled for 4-8 August. The Central Election Commission is supposed to sum up results of the election on 19 August at the latest. If the second round of the election is necessary, it will take place within two weeks of the first one, that is on 23 August.

The CIS observation mission will be led by Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee - Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev. His nomination was approved during a meeting of the CIS Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives in Minsk on 21 July, BelTA has learned.

The CIS is forming the mission. The CIS Executive Committee has sent out invitations to the CIS countries requesting to nominate their representatives to the CIS observation mission. CIS observers are expected to work in all regions of the country. On the election day, the observers will be present at the polling stations from the moment they open until the counting of votes is completed.

The mission will release its findings on the results of the monitoring of the election campaign in Belarus on 10 August.

The presidential election in Belarus will be held on 9 August. The Central Election Commission has registered five presidential candidates on 14 July.

As told in the Agriculture and Food Office of Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, as of the morning of July 21, the agrarians of Minsk Oblast threshed more than 121 thousand tons of rapeseed.

The yield was 21.9 kg/ha.

In total, rapeseed was harvested from 55 thousand hectares of areas - this is 62.5% of the plan. In general, this crop must be removed from 88.4 thousand hectares.

Also, work continues on the areas where winter barley is sown. As of July 21, 96.6% of this crop was harvested in the region. But grains and legumes (without corn, buckwheat, millet) in the region harvested 12.6 thousand hectares - 2.6% of the plan.