The Pandemic in Belarus in 2020-21: COVID-19 in the Shadow of Politics

Abstract

The situation with COVID-19 in Belarus has been unique compared to other countries in the region since its very inception in February 2020. When the first case was registered the problem of a purely medical character barged into the realities of the authoritarian regime, leading to a mass decrease in its popularity, and spurring a social solidarity movement with physicians. At the same time, 2020 was the year of the presidential election in Belarus that caused a deep political crisis and made the COVID-19 topic disappear from people’s consciousness because both society and representatives of the state machine were concerned not by the virus, but by repressions, prospects of the ruling power, and their own future. For one thing, we ought to note that the figures of those who fell ill, recovered, and died, which are presented by data provided by the Health Ministry should not be trusted. We explain in the “State statistics: Trust issues” section of the chapter.