Belarus closes borders
Closing the border is not about making it an iron curtain - Aliaksandr Lukashenka / BELTA
The Belarus-Lithuania border has been closed reportedly due to the deterioration of the COVID-192. The Belarusian news portal Onliner reports the closure of the border with Lithuania has been confirmed by officials from the customs authority in Hrodna who said the decision was unexpected even for them. "Calm down. This is not martial law. COVID-19 is the reason," officials said.
Similar information is coming from the borders with Poland, Latvia and Ukraine. Queues are building up at the border posts as visitors and even Belarus nationals are reportedly not allowed into Belarus.
Aliaksandr Lukashenka on Thursday commented on border security. "Today, we need to see once again. We have done a lot since I said that we must close the border. Closing the border is not about making it an iron curtain. Nobody needs that," he said.
Lukashenka also mentioned the coronavirus epidemic. "You can see a wild outbreak [of COVID-19] in Europe. Even in Belarus, the number of cases has climbed almost 1000. Thank God, there is no wild growth in the number of coronavirus-related cases of pneumonia," he said.
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