Coronavirus in Belarus: impact on human rights

May 2020

Covidmonitor.by is a website launched with the support of Human Constanta. It contains information on how the authorities in the Republic of Belarus respond to the situation with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).[1] On the website, one can find a chronology of statements, actions, and responses of government agencies. Legal and regulatory acts, as well as expert opinions on different relevant matters, can also be found here. Every limitation imposed by a state must be lawful, proportionate, and non-discriminatory. Information is collected for the future, in order to consider and analyze everything that was or was not done ex-post facto.

In the given report, we would like to summarize and record the practice that has developed in Belarus in May 2020.

Introduction

As of the 1st of May, 14,917 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Belarus. 2,918 patients who had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 recovered and were released from hospitals. 93 patients died.

As of May 31, 42,556 cases of infection were registered, 18,514 recovered and 235 died. This means that in May the number of people who tested positive for corona in Belarus has grown by 27,639 more (approximately 890 people each day), and 142 people died.

The leadership of the country has stated that Minsk and Vitebsk have reached a plateau, and the increase in the incidence of diseases in these regions would stop.[2] No such statements were made about the other regions.

In May, Belarus was ranked in the top 10 countries with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per one million population, as well as in the top 25 countries as to the total number of cases since the beginning of the outbreak.[3]

Main conclusions

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Health, the recommendations provided earlier remained relevant in May as well and concerned social distancing, remote work, and the face masks regime. The Ministry did not give more serious recommendations. At the same time, a number of national and regional bodies took various targeted measures.

In the field of education, a number of advisory measures have been adopted for conducting graduation ceremonies and awarding certificates. The terms and procedures for passing final exams have not been changed, but the centralized testing has been postponed.

In May, there were regular updates of information related to the detection of COVID-19 cases at various enterprises. As a response, enterprises suggested their employees taking unpaid leave or short-term vacations. Increasing numbers of people in Belarus face forced part-time employment.

The self-isolation regime will no longer be automatically equal to 14 days. In some cases, it can be extended or shortened, which makes the system more flexible.

According to CEC, the elections scheduled for August 9 and the entire election campaign will be held in compliance with all the safety measures. So far, the CEC has ordered members of initiative groups and observers to follow the recommendations of the Ministry of Health in their actions; at the same time members of the public may not be allowed to attend meetings of bodies forming the election commissions, and the meetings must be broadcasted online.

In prisons, the suspension of short-term and long-term visits is still practiced. But as an alternative, phone and video calls were introduced. At the same time, the workload in some prisons is increasing since prisoners are obliged to work in three shifts now while producing protective gear. There are no employment contracts, the work and rest regime is not complied with, and abandoning work or unauthorized termination of it may be considered a willful infringement of the prescribed procedure for serving a sentence, and incur penalties.

If the registration of foreigners permanently residing in Belarus or working in diplomatic missions or international organizations expires during the period from April 30 to July 31, it will automatically be extended for the subsequent three months. For other foreigners, no such relief has been introduced, and the extension shall be carried out by the migration authorities. The state did not undertake additional measures or offer guarantees to provide medical assistance to foreigners that had been "trapped" in Belarus and had fallen ill with the COVID-19. Furthermore, no specific measures related to the removal (deportation/expulsion/extradition) of foreigners from the territory of Belarus in the context of closed borders were introduced by the state.

In May, there was a problem related to the testing of doctors for coronavirus infection, which was performed insufficiently and in some cases randomly. Similarly, despite the adoption of the act on additional payments for doctors working with infected patients, in practice, it is quite difficult to get such payments.

People with disabilities are vulnerable to the spread of the virus, but so far the state's attention has been focused on social facilities: the visits were limited, additional payments for social workers were introduced, and in some cases, workers were transferred to the shift regime.

Even state television (ONT) has noted cases of negative public attitude towards people with COVID-19 and produced a program condemning such treatment. But a number of other actions of the state, such as parade or an ongoing football championship, put a number of categories of citizens at risk of becoming infected, which can be considered as a discriminatory treatment.

The Ministry of Health, as before, does not publish detailed data on the morbidity trends, hasn’t held press conferences since April 17, and does not respond to official requests for information from the editorial boards of independent media. The practice of prosecuting journalists for cooperation with foreign media is now also applicable in connection with articles and stories covering the pandemic.

In the context of the fight against fake news, the authorities use such methods as official warnings from the Ministry of Information, administrative sanctions for the media, as well as the withdrawal of accreditation and expulsion (that was the case of a journalist from a Russian TV channel). At the same time, media representatives find the reasons for the appearance of false information in the lack of official information and the reluctance of officials to contact non-state media journalists.

There is still no record of mass digital surveillance, i.e. contact tracing or monitoring compliance with the self-isolation regime with the help of information and telecommunications technologies. At least two cases of leakage or misuse of personal data (addresses and contacts of the infected people) collected by government agencies and organizations in the fight against the pandemic have been recorded.

Impact on everyday life

No quarantine has been introduced in Belarus. According to the Ministry of Health, in May the recommendations issued earlier remained relevant: on social distancing, which includes remote work, and the regime of wearing masks where there may be sources of infection. The Ministry did not recommend anything more serious. At the same time, a number of other republican and regional bodies took various targeted measures.

The Council of Ministers has taken additional measures to prevent the spread of infection caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus, namely:

- marriage and birth registration in a festive atmosphere occurs in the presence of no more than 10 people. The decision on the number of guests in each case is taken by an authorized official of the body that registers the acts of civil status;

- meetings in accordance with the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus should be carried out using technical means of communication, including video conferencing.[4]

In a number of regional cities (Smorgon, Ivye), local acts tightened up behavior in public places, namely, a total mask regime was introduced or recommended.

There is no uniform and clearly motivated attitude to holding or banning mass events, which was manifested in the celebration of Victory Day on May 9. In a number of cities (Vitebsk, Grodno), mass events were canceled, but at the same time they took place, for example, in Minsk and Novopolotsk.

In a number of regions (Grodno, Mogilev), the prosecutor's office checked compliance with preventive measures: the availability of disinfectants in stores and masks on maintenance personnel. A number of institutions have taken response measures, consisting mainly of drafting prescriptions, the implementation of which should be checked in a month.

The Minsk and Gomel regional committees reported on disinfection as preventive measures. In Minsk, Vitebsk and Grodno regions there are hot lines for psychological support, prevention of COVID-19, and issues of financial incentives for employees.

On May 29, the Ministry of Health issued an order that actually establishes that the diagnosis of COVID-19 can be made not only based on test results, but also with a typical CT scan of lungs, and the clinical picture of the disease.[5] What is meant by the clinical picture is not spelled out in the order, but we can talk about fever, dry cough, loss of the sense of smell. This can positively affect the solving of a number of problematic issues: obtaining sick leave until the test results are received, additional payments to doctors, but negatively affect the official statistics on the virus, since at the moment the Belarusian statistics consists of the number of positive tests. It was also established by this order that in case of an asymptomatic and mild form of the disease, the sick leave is issued for no more than 21 days, even if at that moment the person still has a positive test and antibodies are not formed, i.e. the active phase of the disease continues.

Impact on Education

To date, the closure of schools due to the spread of COVID-19 has affected nearly 1 billion students in the world.[6] The closure of educational institutions is one of the important elements to support social distancing. In Belarus (for the period of this report), educational institutions were not officially closed, but a number of other measures were taken.

The Ministry of Education, in connection with the restriction of mass events, recommended abandoning graduation parties in the walls of large entertainment complexes and paying attention to more chamber options for conducting school celebrations in the school premises and in open areas.[7]

On June 10, the graduation will take place in Minsk without entertaining events.[8] In this case, the decision on the format of the event in each educational institution should be made by the head and the parent committee, and then the decision should be agreed with the local authorities.

On May 26, the Ministry of Education decided that graduates who are ill with COVID-19 and are on self-isolation will be allowed not to pass the exams.[9] Parents can find out whether their child is a subject to exemption from final exams in the regional centers of hygiene and epidemiology, departments and education departments of the local executive committee. Although, the timing and format of the final exams has not been changed, but at the same time, the beginning of the terms of centralized testing was postponed from June 13 to June 25.

There was no general rule on how the summer session at universities would be held. Each university makes a decision at its discretion.[10]

Impact on work

In May, the number of reports of sick employees of large enterprises increased. Because of this, at some enterprises, people were offered to go on vacation at their own expense.[11] In some places, short-term unscheduled vacations were announced, while the “missed” days would have to be worked out later in the year.[12] According to the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, about 71 thousand workers faced forced underemployment, in May this figure increased to 83 thousand. For comparison, in 2019 the total number of those who have experienced part-time employment was 71 thousand.[13]

On the recommendation of the presidential decree, many local executive committees adopted acts halving the single tax rate for individual entrepreneurs and individuals (Mogilev, Minsk, Grodno, Brest regions).

Restriction of freedom of movement

In May, the possibility of extending the self-isolation regime by more than 14 days was introduced in some cases, namely:

● receiving a positive test for COVID-19 from a person related to the contacts of the first level, when the test is repeated;

● if a person who has COVID-19 infection gets a positive test result while re-conducting the test;

● incomplete medical examination of a person related to contacts of the first level on the last day of the established period of self-isolation.[14]

In such cases, people should additionally be given requirements to comply with the rules of conduct in self-isolation, indicating specific periods of stay in self-isolation.

For foreign citizens arriving in the Republic of Belarus from countries in which cases of COVID-19 infection are registered, self-isolation can be reduced if a person came to Belarus to provide medical care or if he was invited by an organization for work. To reduce the period of self-isolation for these two categories, a person must have a negative test for COVID-19, performed no later than two days before the date of crossing the border of Belarus.

The list of countries in which cases of coronavirus infection are recorded at the end of May has not been changed and it still includes 169 countries.

Elections

On May 8, the Parliament passed a decree setting the date of the presidential elections on August 9th. The meeting of the Central Election Commission (CEC), held on May 8, was for the first time held online. The CEC Chairwoman said that the election campaign will be conducted in compliance with all the security measures.[15]

Several CEC decisions contain provisions related to coronavirus infection. Therefore, on May 8, a resolution was adopted that prescribed that, to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, meetings of bodies forming territorial commissions are held in the absence of representatives of political parties, other public associations, labour collectives, citizens, the media and other invited persons. At the same time, a live broadcast of the meeting is provided on the website of the relevant executive committee or the full video of the meeting is posted on this website. But on May 15, this resolution in this part was changed to a softer wording. And now, at meetings of the bodies that form the commissions, representatives of political parties, other public associations, labour collectives, and citizens who nominated their representatives to the commission may be present. And at the same time, meetings of these commissions can be held in the absence of these persons.[16] Who and how will decide when these representatives may be absent, and when to attend, the resolution does not prescribe and clearly remains entirely at the discretion of the bodies forming the commission.

When collecting signatures, members of initiative groups are instructed to adhere to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health on the prevention of coronavirus infection: the use of masks, sanitizing hands and objects with antiseptic, etc.[17]

Also, when observing at meetings of commissions and at polling stations, observers comply with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health on the prevention of coronavirus infection. At polling stations established in hospitals and other healthcare organizations providing medical care in stationary conditions, the rules established by these organizations are also observed.[18]

The decisions do not indicate any measures that may be taken for those who will not comply with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, which should mean a lack of responsibility for non-compliance with these points.

Impact on specific (vulnerable) groups

People placed to closed institutions

In May the Department of Corrections stated that despite the information about coronavirus infection among prisoners the epidemiological situation in institutions of the penitentiary system is under control.[19] Infected prisoners in need of in-patient assistance are being hospitalized, whereas other prisoners are being monitored.

Due to infection cases institutions of the penitentiary system continue the practice of suspension of short- and long-term visits of prisoners’ families while preserving their general quantity. A broad extension of phone calls opportunities is provided as an alternative way for prisoners to connect to their families. In some correctional institution there is even a possibility to use video calls. A practice of using phone- and video calls to contact families is one of the WHO’s recommendations for prevention of COVID-19 infection in places of deprivation of liberty. On the one hand, it allows for minimization of risk of infection for prisoners. On the other hand, the quantity of meetings and social contacts is preserved.

According to the information of the Ministry of internal affairs there is a large production of protection suits organized in correctional institutions at the moment.[20] It is possible due to triple shifting of prisoners. The Minister of internal affairs said that such an approach resolves the problem of partial unemployment among prisoners. At the same time, the system involving prisoners as labour force raises many questions. According to the Belarusian legislation prisoners have to work and refusal or unauthorized interruption of work is considered as a severe breach of prescribed order of serving a sentence and entails sanctioning. Moreover, prisoners are not employed by contracts, their wages are extremely low and conditions of work are unbearable. Speaking of night shifts, there are cases when night working was not calculated into working time. Therefore, the question on how the triple shifts working is going to be regulated and compensated to prisoners is still open.

Foreign citizens

At the end of March 2020, the Head of the Department of citizenship and migration proclaimed introduction of practice of prolongation of temporary stay (registration) duration for those foreign citizens, who were not able to leave the territory of the Republic of Belarus before imposition of restrictions by other states. On May 19 2020, the President of the Republic of Belarus signed a decree, according to which a number of documents and certificates issued by the Belarusian authorities and expiring in the period between April 30 and July 31 will be automatically prolonged for another three months. The decree covers registration of foreigners permanently staying in Belarus as well as those working in diplomatic missions or international organizations. Consequently, other foreigners, who came to Belarus by visa, visa-free regime or temporarily living in Belarus, still have to extend registration duration via departments of citizenship and migration.

There are no additional measures taken by the state authorities to provide medical assistance for infected foreigners “stuck” in Belarus. All the foreigners living or staying in Belarus by visa or visa-free regime can seek for medical assistance in the same order as before.[21] Since the coronavirus infection was included to the list of diseases, which represent a danger for the health of population, foreigners, who refuse the treatment, can be deported from Belarus.

Nevertheless, there is no information about additional measures taken by the government (i.e. special agreements made with other states or launching the special flights) in order to deport/expel/extradite foreigners from the territory of Belarus in conditions of other state’s borders closure. Therefore, there is no clear understanding on how the process of deportation/expulsion/extradition is going to look like: the foreigners will wait till the restrictions on border-crossing is lifted or the Belarusian authorities will undertake special measures for each case of deportation/expulsion/extradition of a foreigner to their place of citizenship or permanent residence separately.

Medical workers

In March the Ministry of health has made a decision to test for coronavirus but not to hospitalize medical staff members who became a contact of the 1st level. Since medical workers are all the time in contact with infected people, testing for COVID-19 became their biweekly routine. In May information about different schemes and algorithms of testing in different healthcare institutions appeared: some institutions continue regular testing, while others test their staff members only if one has clear symptoms of COVID-19.[22] Additionally, the order by the Ministry of health dd. 24 April 2020 establishes rules of medical workers examination in laboratories. Medical workers working with infected patients have to make a test for coronavirus antibodies. If a worker hasn’t got them, their next testing will be made in 2 weeks and so on till one gets them.[23] In that relation arbitrariness increases the risk for doctors and their families.

In April, the president signed a decree on financial incentives for medical workers. The decree turned out to be difficult for implementing and understanding. The Ministry of health in the format of answers to questions gave an explanation of its application.[24] The websites of the Grodno and Gomel regional committees paid attention to the explanation of the decree. However, questions regarding its use remain. For example, in one of the district hospitals, medical workers fill out time sheets indicating their time with infected with COVID-19 patients up to minutes.[25] At the end of the month, these minutes are summarized in order to establish the final size of the bonus, even though the decree clearly says that work with coronavirus patients should be paid by shifts.

The bonus is due to all medical workers contacting the infected patients. Its size should be determined by a special commission on determination of working conditions and establishment of incentive and compensatory payments. Bonuses must be established every month and paid for the actual hours worked. Medical workers must fill in the timesheet the patient’s data and their medical card number, date of the diagnosis confirmation, indicate the form of medical assistance, its date and time. They also have columns where one has to write down the hours worked with the infected patients and the hours actually worked for the month as a whole.

At the same time, only those who have been confirmed infected with the COVID-19 by the smear shall be registered to the report card. Even if the diagnosis is presumed for the symptoms or the patient has bilateral pneumonia, the time before the result comes is not considered a contact. At the same time, a smear can be prepared for seven days. That means that the time, while workers examine the patient and provide assistance, is not considered the contact and, therefore, is not paid. It is also necessary to find out whether the coronavirus was confirmed with a particular patient or not.

The state still cannot fully provide medical institutions with personal protective equipment and other equipment that is necessary for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. At the same time, all regional executive committees regularly post on their websites information on the assistance provided to doctors (funds, personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizers, etc.). Only the Minsk Regional Executive Committee reported specifically that assistance to doctors in May was provided by various representatives of business and civil society.

People with disabilities

People with disabilities are more vulnerable in the situation of the virus spread. Yet, as for now, the public attention is drawn only to the problems of those placed to the residential facilities.

In May, messages about infection cases in residential homes continued occurring. There are additional measures introduced in such institutions in order to minimize the risk of infection. First of all, there is restricted regime of visits. For instance, in Gomel region employees of social institutions were transferred to the shift method of work. They take care of the residents, provide them assistance and live in institutions without leaving their territory for 14 days. Such employees are provided with food and places for sleep and recreation. Nonetheless, the government cannot provide necessary amounts of personal protection equipment: masks, respirators, gloves and suits. In a number of institutions, the majority of residents got infected.[26]

Discriminatory incidents

People infected with COVID-19

The first several months of the coronavirus spread in Belarus, there were signs of negative and discriminatory attitude towards people infected with COVID-19 in personal conversations as well as in social networks posts. Yet, mass media rarely mentioned these facts in their materials.

Administrator of the department of infectious diseases of the central district hospital of Drogichin stated in her interview the following: “the society tends to blame and discriminate infected people. There is a spread of rumors that insult dignity of doctors and infected people. Some patients of Liliya Kokhovets even ask to issue them a document conforming their COVID-19 negative status. That document is meant to be shown to acquaintances, because people get treated as contagious even though they are not actually infected.”[27]

Release of the show “Antivirus” on the national TV-channel “No blame – support! Why infected with COVID-19 endure discrimination?” serves us some kind of indicator of the aforementioned instances.[28] This release is a positive move from the government, even though there are still many questions on quantity and timing of such materials, especially taking into consideration content of other programs shown on the same channel.

Football and infected people

In May games of the Premier, First and Second Leagues, Belarus Cup as well as the tournament of reserve teams continued. Members of the Clubs were forced to work in risk. As a result, members of several Clubs got infected with COVID-19. Consequently, some games were cancelled but Championships are continued.

The Belarusian Football Federation stated that they “keep taking all necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus on matches of national competitions. The stadiums are equipped with additional points with sanitizers, at the entrances all the visitors shall pass body temperature control, and sitting of public is arranged in chessboard order.”[29]

Army and the parade

Despite the public dissonance, declaration of the human rights protection community and petition, which was signed by 7305 citizens, armed forces personnel except their main responsibilities were forced to participate in preparation for the 9th of May parade.[30] Official information about new infection cases in armed forces after the parade is not published. However, there was an information about dozens of pneumonia cases among those, who participated in the parade,” also the sports hall was reported to be filled with the beds for supposedly sick with COVID-19 personnel.[31]

Digital freedoms

Access to information

The latest press conference of the Ministry of health care, when journalists had a possibility to ask the officials about the current situation, was held on April 17, 2020.[32]

Whereas during the last public event for a press – briefing on 24 April – the journalists were not provided with this opportunity, and the deputy minister’s announcement was limited to reassurance that the situation is under control.[33]

Official internet resource www.stopcovid.belta.by continues providing information limited to the following categories: data on quantity of conducted tests, registered cases, quantity of recovered, dismissed and dead people. Still, the site does not have information on statistics for previous days and the development of the situation in dynamics.

Our organization Human Constanta have not received the response for an official address submitted to the Ministry of health we sent about 2 months ago – April 4. In the letter we provided a list of possible information, which we recommend for publishing on the official website, also we asked for an opinion on how important the publishing of this information is from the Ministry’s perspective.

There are cases when institutions ask directly to deny the media sources access to information about the virus. Journalists are persecuted for distribution of such information. For instance, the Belarusian Federation of Football instructed the clubs on how to behave during the pandemic. The document was sent without stamp and signature but approved by the head of the Republican scientific practical sports center. Prescription (recommendation) to limit any contacts with press is among the measures on organization of prevention of the infection.[34] The District Court of Sharkovschina fined independent journalist Dmitriy Lupach from the region of Glubokoje with 40 basic units for cooperation with TV-channel Belsat. Judge Oksana Tabola made the decision under p.2 art. 22.9 of CAO. The story about coronavirus in Sharkovschina became the reason for the proceedings.[35]

Disinformation

On May 6, 2020, the commission on accreditation of foreign media of the Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Belarus made a decision to revoke the accreditation of Aleksey Kruchinin, Russian correspondent of “Perviy Canal”. A possible reason is a number of reportages about spread of COVID-19 in Belarus shot by Aleksey over the last couple of months. The latest reportage was published on May 6, it covers rapid growth of infection cases and deaths in Stolbtsy.[36]

On May 13, the Court of Luninets district fined the editorial office of “Media-Polesje” with 120 basic units (around 1250 EUR) under p. 3-1 art. 22.9 of CAO (“dissemination by a mass media of information prohibited for dissemination via mass media”).[37] According to PO “BAJ” in was the first incident of enforcement of this legal norm amended to the CAO in 2018. The judicial process was initiated based on the material about COVID-19 spread in Luninets, which included a false information about death of a patient.[38] The mentioned material had caused a warning from the Ministry of Information to the online media earlier.

Online media source of Bobrujsk city – bobr.by – was forced to remove an interview of a local hospital nurse after the local authorities and hospital administration threatened the media with prosecution for dissemination of false information. The interview contained anonymously given information about working conditions of the hospital during the pandemic.[39]

Personal data protection

At the beginning of May there was information about misuse of patients’ personal data. Recovered from COVID-19 residents of Minsk told journalists that they receive invitations to parade on 9 May by phone. Callers introduced themselves as employees of the administrations of districts of the city of Minsk. Yet, the district administrations denied these facts when were asked directly.[40] Even if the officials were not involved to this process, the situation does provide an evidence of possible patients’ data leaks. A similar case happened in Grodno, where as a result of the leak a list of addresses of infected with COVID-19 people, made by the Zonal Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Grodno, was published in open access.[41] A part of these addresses were private single-family houses.

About us

Human Constanta is a Belarusian human rights organization. We registered in 2016 in Minsk. We work with human rights in three main areas:

• protection of the human rights of foreign citizens and stateless persons;

• promotion of anti-discrimination and human rights education;

• digital rights and freedoms.

Our mission

Promotion of public interests and joint actions in response to modern challenges in the field of human rights in Belarus.

What we do?

• Help others to protect their rights.

• Compare Belarusian laws and legal practice to the best foreign examples and standards of human rights.

• Transfer this knowledge through various educational activities.

Mobile/WhatsApp: +375 44 562 3842

E-mail: legal@humanconstanta.by

Notes

[←1]

Hereinafter COVID-19

[←2]

https://news.tut.by/society/685456.html

[←3]

https://news.tut.by/society/682046.html

[←4]

Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of May 22, 2020 No. 305 "On measures to prevent the spread of infection caused by coronavirus COVID-19. "

[←5]

http://www.infectology.bsmu.by/Files/2019CoV/Normat_Docs/prikaz_557.pdf

[←6]

https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies/coronavirus-school-closures

[←7]

https://edu.gov.by/sistema-obrazovaniya/glavnoe-upravlenie-obshchego-srednego-doshkolnogo-i-spetsialnogo-obrazovaniya/srenee-obr/okonchanie-2019-2020-uchebnogo-goda/

[←8]

https://news.tut.by/society/685184.html

[←9]

Resolution of the Ministry of Education of May 26, No. 101 On amending the resolution of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus of June 20, 2011 No. 38

[←10]

https://news.tut.by/society/684347.html

[←11]

https://people.onliner.by/2020/05/01/koronavirus-na-grodno-azot-sotrudniki-bpxo-na-bolnichnom-chto-sejchas-proisxodit-na-belorusskix-predpriyatiyax

[←12]

https://people.onliner.by/2020/04/23/mtz-obyavil-kanikuly-s-4-po-10-maya

[←13]

https://people.onliner.by/2020/05/25/44-tysyachi-belorusskix-rabotnikov-naxodyatsya-v-prostoe

[←14]

Decree of the Ministry of Health of May 8, 2020 No. 49 "On the extension (reduction) of the length of stay of citizens in self-isolation."

[←15]

https://news.tut.by/economics/683744.html

[←16]

Resolution of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Conducting Republican Referendums May 15, 2020 No. 24 On Amending Resolution of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Conducting Republican Referendums of May 8, 2020 No. 13

[←17]

Resolution of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Republican Referendums of May 8, 2020 No. 14 "On clarification of the application of the provisions of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus on the procedure for nominating candidates for President of the Republic of Belarus during the elections in 2020

[←18]

Resolution of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Conducting Republican Referendums on May 8, 2020 No. 15 On the Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Direction and Activities of Observers in the Preparation and Holding of Elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus in 2020

[←19]

https://www.svaboda.org/a/30628876.html

[←20]

https://naviny.by/new/20200505/1588679860-covid-19-v-belarusi-zaklyuchennym-nashli-rabotu

[←21]

https://humanconstanta.by/medicinskaya-pomoshh-inostrannym-grazhdanam-v-belarusi-pri-koronaviruse/

[←22]

https://news.tut.by/society/685160.html

[←23]

http://www.infectology.bsmu.by/Files/2019CoV/Normat_Docs/prikaz_mz_rb_488_ot_24.04.2020.pdf

[←24]

Presidential Decree of April 16, 2020 No. 131 “On Material Incentives for Healthcare Workers” and clarifications from the Ministry of Health

http://pravo.by/novosti/obshchestvenno-politicheskie-i-v-oblasti-prava/2020/may/50084/

[←25]

https://news.tut.by/society/685149.html

[←26]

https://news.tut.by/society/685690.html

[←27]

https://www.kp.by/online/news/3867372/

[←28]

https://ont.by/amp/news/osuzhdat-nelzya-podderzhivat-pochemu-zabolevshie-koronavirusom-podvergayutsya-diskriminacii-rubrika-antivirus

[←29]

https://abff.by/news/article/matc-minsk-i-neman-grodno-perenesen

[←30]

http://www.legin.by/posts/210, https://petitions.by/petitions/3707

[←31]

https://charter97.org/ru/news/2020/4/15/373124/ , https://t.me/bnkbel/4849

[←32]

https://news.tut.by/society/681136.html

[←33]

https://news.tut.by/society/682212.html

[←34]

https://by.tribuna.com/football/1085683084.html?fbclid=IwAR2-cTAPto0pLqZwxaNWtG4ZBoln9nVflZ2pr09zI6mJggWFTns_q2LyYQk

[←35]

https://baj.by/be/content/zmitra-lupacha-ashtrafavali-za-syuzhet-pra-karanavirus

[←36]

https://news.tut.by/economics/683509.html

[←37]

https://media-polesye.by/

[←38]

https://baj.by/be/content/sayt-media-polese-oshtrafovali-na-3240-rubley-za-sodeystvie-rasprostraneniyu-panicheskih

[←39]

https://baj.by/be/content/babruyski-sayt-prymusili-vydalic-intervyu-z-medsyastroy-yakaya-raspavyala-pra-pracu-z-covid

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https://news.tut.by/society/683473.html

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https://ru.hrodna.life/2020/05/06/analiziruem-kartu/

Table of Contents

Introduction

Main conclusions

Impact on everyday life

Impact on Education

Impact on work

Restriction of freedom of movement

Elections

Impact on specific (vulnerable) groups

People placed to closed institutions

Foreign citizens

Medical workers

Discriminatory incidents

People infected with COVID-19

Football and infected people

Army and the parade

Access to information

Disinformation

Personal data protection

About us