Minsk demands that Lithuania substantiate its allegations about COVID-19 hotbeds and deaths in Belarus, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, after Vilnius questioned the country's official statistics
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2020) Minsk demands that Lithuania substantiate its allegations about COVID-19 hotbeds and deaths in Belarus, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, after Vilnius questioned the country's official statistics.
Earlier in the day, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that he could not trust the official statistics of Belarus, which has so far reported 163 COVID-19 cases, including two deaths. According to Nauseda, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko assesses the situation with "certain bravado," while real statistics may be "significantly worse." Lithuania, he says, is "aware of certain hotbeds" of the infection and related deaths in Belarus. The country is therefore now mulling suspending air traffic between the two nations.
"Any statements of this kind should be based on reliable information and facts, not on speculation and rumors. Therefore, we would be grateful to the Lithuanian side for providing us with accurate information about 'certain hotbeds on the Belarusian territory and fatalities that are being recorded.' Certainly, if it does have such information at its disposal," the ministry's spokesman Anatoly Glaz said.
He added that it was up to professionals to assess the country's health care and warned Lithuania against attempts to act as a substitute for the World Health Organization.
As for Lithuania's idea of halting air traffic with Belarus, the spokesman slammed it as ingratitude. He recalled that starting March 16, about 500 Lithuanians have been repatriated on board of Belavia planes at a time when countries across the world are grounding flights and closing borders. Minsk, he added, did not require them to obtain visas.
Lithuania itself has registered 581 coronavirus cases, including eight fatalities.
