Belarus: Masking the virus

Belarus: Masking the virus

Belarus’s all-powerful President has focused global attention on his country by ostentatiously downplaying the coronavirus pandemic. Alexander Lukashenko has allowed shops, markets and restaurants and football stadiums to remain open and is encouraging people to go out to work. In early May he laid on a grand military spectacle celebrating victory in WW2, in defiance of social distancing advice. He told Belarussians they could stay healthy by drinking vodka and driving tractors in the fields and dismissed concerns over the virus as “psychosis.” But medics and bereaved families say otherwise. And with a doubling of infections every two or three days, there is not much to laugh about in Belarus. Medical staff have allegedly been sacked and even detained for speaking out about poor conditions in hospitals and the inaccurate death certificates.

Assignment explores what lies behind President Lukashenko’s position. We hear from community activists, war veterans, tech-wizards and many other diverse people in Belarus. Lucy Ash pieces it all together with reporting by Ilya Kuziatsou.

Produced by Monica Whitlock

(Image: Jana Shostak’s Angry Mask. Human Constanta, a Belarusian human rights organisation, asked eight artists to design facemasks focusing on the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Jakub Jasiukiewicz)

Episoder(2000)

BBC OS Conversatioms: Living through a coup

BBC OS Conversatioms: Living through a coup

Niger has been the focus of international and diplomatic attention over the past week after its democratically elected president was removed from power by the military. In recent days, we have seen hu...

5 Aug 202323min

Heart and Soul: Online spiritual communities

Heart and Soul: Online spiritual communities

A doctor in New York, Anjoli has been longing for a space to practise spirituality within a like-minded community, but she does not want to go to her parents’ Hindu temple. Whilst she likes the ritual...

4 Aug 202327min

Returning to Romania

Returning to Romania

Millions of people left Romania after it entered the EU in 2007. They were haemorrhaging doctors at such a rate they had to shut entire hospitals and losing so many builders they had to cancel major i...

3 Aug 202327min

A billion batteries

A billion batteries

Fourteen-year-old Sri Nihal Tammana is on a mission to prevent billions of batteries going to landfill. After watching devastating fires cause by discarded lithium-ion batteries, the kind of batteries...

2 Aug 202323min

Invading the past: Russia and science fiction

Invading the past: Russia and science fiction

Science fiction flourished from the earliest days of the Soviet Union. A rare space to explore other realms and utopian dreams of progress. But with the Soviet Union's collapse different narratives bu...

1 Aug 202327min

In the Studio: Sophie Hannah

In the Studio: Sophie Hannah

The crime writer Agatha Christie remains the best-selling novelist of all time even though her death was almost 50 years ago. Her fictional detective Hercule Poirot has attained legendary status, so f...

31 Jul 202327min

Women writing Zimbabwe

Women writing Zimbabwe

Look at any fiction prize recently and odds are that you will find a Zimbabwean woman nominated, be it Tsitsi Dangaremba, NoViolet Bulawayo or Petina Gappah. But forget the glitz of the Booker, what i...

30 Jul 202351min

BBC OS Conversations: Women in sport

BBC OS Conversations: Women in sport

The Women’s World Cup is underway and global attention is once again on women in sport. Host James Reynolds brings together Preeti Singh, a national and international basketball player for India, lawy...

29 Jul 202323min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
alt-fortalt
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
popradet
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
fladseth
frokostshowet-pa-p5
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
synnve-og-vanessa
den-politiske-situasjonen
rss-herrepanelet