Belarus TV show call-in poll shows low levels of trust in gov stats

[Roehl_JC]

93% of Belarusians don?t trust official information about epidemic

The results of voting during yesterday?s Vybor (Choice) talk show on ONT TV channel were really shocking.

The program was dedicated to the swine flu epidemic, raging in all neighbouring countries. But Belarusian officials state people don?t die from swine flu in Belarus.

Chief medical officer of Belarus Valyantsina Kachan promised during the talk show not to hide information if someone dies from swine flu.

?I?d like to assure: if we are 100% certain a person has died exactly from this virus, we will record this case and let know the media,? Kachan said.

According to Kachan, it?s confusing to her to hear that people doubt the reliability of the information given by the Health Care Ministry.?

The chief health officer repeated the information about 59 cases of the A(Н1N1) virus, or swine influenza, that were confirmed in laboratories.

The Republican Scientific and Practical Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology and five Russian institutions were ordered to examine alteration and composition of the virus to ?find out a reason? for rapid growth of complications in a number of cases, especially of a patient asks for medical help late, ?because it is really difficult today to give simple and concrete answers to these questions?.

According to head of the primary care department of the Health Care Ministry Lyudmila Zhylevich, all fatal cases of pneumonia have been examined in laboratories. The results show it was a ?mixed infection?.

All people suffering from swine flu are on the way to recovery. The last five people will be discharged from inflectional hospital ?in a day or two?, Zhylevich told.

The results of the telephone voting were announced at the end of the programme. 93% of the respondents do not trust these statements and think the authorities hide the true situation.

http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2009/11/3/23337/

 

[alert]

Re: Belarus TV show call-in poll shows low levels of trust in gov stats

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130470

Please see the above thread. There have apparently been at least 7 confirmed and dozens of suspect deaths in Belarus. There is no reason to think Belarus would escape the pandemic any more than any other country.

 

[alert]

Re: Belarus TV show call-in poll shows low levels of trust in gov stats

This Xinhua article is three days old. The likely H1N1 death toll in Belarus is probably 20 or more. Of course, many (most?) H1N1 fatalities are "mixed infections" with bacterial co-infections, so the official quoted in the first post didn't really lie, he just didn't tell the whole truth.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/05/content_12394337.htm

Belarus reports 7 A/H1N1 flu deaths


www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-05 18:54:54 Print

MOSCOW, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Seven people had died of the A/H1N1 flu pandemic in Belarus, the country's Health Ministry said on Thursday.

"Over the past two weeks, 19 people died of acute pneumonia in Belarus. Among them, seven were confirmed as having the A/H1N1 flu virus," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Valentina Kachan, Minsk's chief sanitary official, as saying.

So far, 85 people had been confirmed as being infected with theA/H1N1 virus, 31 of whom were hospitalized, Kachan said.

Kachan said necessary medicine had been provided to hospitals across the country.

Up to Tuesday, the death toll of the A/H1N1 flu had risen to 14in Russia, and the number of confirmed cases totaled 3,122, said a Russian deputy health minister.

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Belarus TV show call-in poll shows low levels of trust in gov stats

you're so right Alert! half-truthes are not the truth...they have no invisible barriers to keep H1N1 out of Belarus, and they certainly are not going to spin their way out of it...though as usual I do suspect that these government officials are doing their utmost to discount real deaths from H1N1 as anything else.