A previous post in www.timesofcoronavirus.com was about the Ostrich Alliance. Members of this select club include the presidents of Brazil, Belarus, Nicaragua, and Turkmenistan, none of whom acknowledges Covid-19 as a threat. Today, over a month later, let us revisit these countries to find out how they are doing, and to see whether their strategies finally worked.
BRAZIL: PRESIDENT JAIR BOLSONARO
President Bolsonaro of Brazil is still the most famous of the coronavirus ostriches, thanks to his assertions that Covid-19 is like a “little flu”. Indeed, his appearance at mass gatherings has transformed him into a media star. In imitation of other world leaders, he has consistently left unpopular decisions to his state governors and refused to wear a mask. He has also promoted unproven coronavirus ‘cures’, while encouraging the population to protest lockdown measures.
When two consecutive Health Ministers did not agree with his methods of dealing with the coronavirus, he fired them. The current Health Minister in Brazil is a military general whose utter lack of health background is compensated by the fact that he is very good at following orders.
Thanks to President Bolsonaro’s initiatives, Brazil’s official coronavirus statistics can now be used in math classes throughout the world to exemplify exponential increase. On 22 April, the government of Brazil reported 44,000 cases of coronavirus and 2761 deaths. Today on 30 May, there are 468,338 cases and 27,944 deaths.
The death rate, which used to be 400 per day, is now over 1000 per day. Since the virus has not as yet reached its peak, it is estimated that by August, the death toll of the ‘little flu’ will have quintupled. It is only necessary to do the math and reach the logical conclusions.
Government authorities, however, remain in the ostrich mode and claim that the aerial photographs of mass graves in Manaus and Sao Paolo are fake news and are being filled with empty coffins to alarm the population. (This claim has since been disproven.)
BELARUS: PRESIDENT ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO
In Belarus, President Lukashenko still affirms that the coronavirus is a false alarm. He dismisses lockdowns and face masks as frenzy and psychosis. He has allowed soccer matches and church services to proceed. Despite a rise in Covid-19 infections, he even held a full military parade of 3000 soldiers on 9 May to commemorate the defeat of the Germans in World War II. Belarus has not imposed lockdown measures or social distancing rules. Shops, schools, and public transport continue to function normally.
The advice of President Lukashenko is to go to the sauna, drink vodka, and eat meals on time. Driving tractors also helps. In addition, he has claimed that doctors in his country have already found a combination of drugs to cure the virus. If this is indeed the case, then Belarus statistics must have improved dramatically.
Unfortunately, even based on the (under-reported) data for Belarus, the 6,723 cases of coronavirus in April have increased to 40,764 in May. Similarly, the 55 deaths in April have now risen to 224 (though there are doubtlessly many more).
Recently, hundreds of people in Minsk protested against the policies of their president. Many protesters carried slippers as a symbol of protest leader Sergei Tikhanovsky’s call to “smash the cockroach”. Others wore face masks defying the president's dismissal of coronavirus concerns as a psychosis. So, President Lukashenko is evidently another failed ostrich.
NICARAGUA: PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA
When the pandemic began, President Daniel Ortega decided that the best way to address the situation was to disappear. During his spiritual retirement, public concerts, marathons, and soccer games were allowed without any restrictions. Quarantine was considered unnecessary because it would alarm the population. Like the regimes in Brazil and Belarus, Nicaragua’s government downplayed the virus and attempted to sit out the pandemic. The strategy was to do nothing, and pretend that everything was normal.
Now over a month later, the Nicaraguan government has finally admitted that the number of new COVID-19 infections is rising. There was little choice because of photos of the overflowing morgue in the only hospital officially designated to treat coronavirus patients. On 22 April, the government admitted to 10 Covid cases and 2 deaths. On 30 May, the official report is 759 cases and 35 deaths though everyone knows that the government is lying.
A letter signed by more than 700 Nicaraguan healthcare professionals confirms that deaths from Covid-19 are being attributed to hypertension, diabetes, or respiratory illnesses – and the victims are rushed away for burial in the dead of night. These ‘express burials’, many of which have been filmed, involve sealed caskets and bodies wrapped in plastic. The families are warned to remain silent, and the dead are not included in the official Covid-19 death toll.
However, according to President Ortega, there is no need for alarm because everything is under control.
TURKMENISTAN: PRESIDENT GURBANGULY BERDIMUHAMEDOV
President Berdimuhamedov is the only ostrich that can be heartily congratulated because his country is one of the very few in the world that has no documented cases of coronavirus. There were no cases in April, and there are still none in May, despite the fact that thousands of cases have been detected in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Afghanistan, the four nations bordering Turkmenistan.
Among other things, President Berdimuhamedov attributes the absence of coronavirus cases in the country to burning the herb yuzarlik, which supposedly prevents infectious diseases “invisible to the naked eye”.
Given the absence of coronavirus in Turkmenistan, the WHO has asked to visit the country so that they can document the country’s virological victory, and finally learn how to do things right. Lamentably, permission for this visit has not been granted. President Berdimuhamedov prefers to keep his methods a secret and has no wish share his triumph over the coronavirus with the world.
Stay tuned next month for another Ostrich Alliance update.
