The Belarusian army becomes infected, but does not surrender
A fourth case of coronavirus infection has been identified in the armed forces of Belarus. This time - from an officer in the military unit of Slonim. The man was hospitalized at the Grodno Regional Infectious Diseases Hospital. Its contacts are isolated at the test site.
This was reported by the Minsk-Novosti agency, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to information as of April 17), three cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in the Belarusian army: a soldier of the 72nd training center in Pechi and two conscript soldiers of the 83rd engineering airfield regiment in Bobruisk. Their contacts were also placed in a tent camp at the training ground.
“It would seem that we should have expected the first infections among contract servicemen, but no. The incidence of community-acquired pneumonia among conscripts is almost an order of magnitude higher than the incidence of contract soldiers. In recent decades, the incidence among military personnel is 4-5 times higher than that of the civilian population. Of course, pneumonia has different pathogens, but against the background of these data, the first cases of COVID-19 among conscripts, and not contract soldiers, do not look so surprising,” wrote Belarusian military observer Yegor Lebedok in his Telegram channel.
There is reason to believe that the armed forces were preparing for an outbreak of infections in advance (or did it start earlier?). Two days before the first infected person appeared, the Council of Ministers of Belarus issued a decree prohibiting citizens from being at military training grounds.
At the same time, the Belarusian army continues to prepare for the parade on May 9. Rehearsals take place in the center of Minsk. Belarus is the only country that has not yet refused to hold mass events on Victory Day.
A petition demanding to cancel the parade, signed by 2,5 thousand citizens, was transferred to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus. In his official response, Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin stated that “the current epidemiological situation in the Republic of Belarus allows the Armed Forces to carry out planned combat training activities.”
According to him, military parades are “a tradition that symbolizes the readiness of the Belarusian people to defend the national interests of the state.”
“During the training of personnel to participate in the military parade, including the honor guard company of the commandant battalion of the Minsk Military Commandant’s Office, officials from the medical service of the armed forces are carrying out a set of anti-epidemiological and treatment and preventive measures,” the minister’s response says.
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, starting this week, 170 military chemists and 60 pieces of equipment began disinfecting healthcare facilities and industrial facilities in Minsk.
“New types of weapons have been purchased that will allow us to better solve the tasks of processing the facilities of the Ministry of Health and industrial facilities located in our state. Standard disinfectants found in the armed forces will be used and applied. The units are ready to process both external buildings and structures, as well as internal objects, areas of terrain, roads, as well as equipment,” said Vyacheslav Starkov, head of the Russian Chemical Defense Forces for the defense of the armed forces.
Let us note that the mortality rate among those infected with coronavirus in Belarus is at a low level - 5 people per million population (in the Russian Federation - 3 people). The world leader in this indicator is Belgium - more than 500 deaths per million inhabitants.
The Belarusian army is becoming infected, but it is not surrendering.