Coronavirus In Belarus: More Than One Hundred People Could Fly With Iranian Student

Belavia is responsible for direct flights between Baku and Minsk.

Belavia planes go to Azerbaijan five times a week. The flights are quick return. The flight leaves from Minsk at 23:15, from Baku - at 4:15. According to Flightradar24, the Belavia B2740 flight arrived in Minsk at 7:10 on February 22. The flight was carried out by a Boeing 737-5Q8, which can carry up to 132 passengers, depending on the configuration of the cabin. In the case of the national carrier, it has 126 seats. In such an aircraft, depending on the load, 2 to 4 flight attendants can work.

Onliner reader Aleiaxandr writes that his colleagues arrived from Baku on the 22nd.

"Well, we're kind of worried that the whole office may get ill, - the man says. - All the morning we are trying to find out the number of the flight and where to run to get tests done, we called the airport (fast number 211) - they do not know about the coronavirus, they do not give any information about the flight. The line of the Minsk Region Ministry of Health is constantly busy. We phoned the Mahiliou one, where they answered that it was morning, there was no information about the flight, they didn't know the number of the flight, so they told us to wait. 15 minutes later they called back and said they'd passed the information to Minsk. We are waiting. We've dialed the center of epidemiology - there is no information, call the airport or search in the Internet, we do not know the flight number, there is no additional information".

There was one flight from Baku to Minsk that day, so Aliaksandr's colleagues flew together with the Iranian student.

The national carrier is still working with the Ministry of Health and does not give any comments.

The flight attendants say that the coronavirus has changed the lives of passengers more than that of their own. Incoming passengers are checked on board and directly at the terminal building. Infectious first-aid kits on board have been fully loaded: masks, gloves, antiseptics. And also special questionnaires. If a flight attendant notices clear signs of illness, such a form must be filled in.

The flight attendants do not wear masks. Although most airport employees (catering, cleaning and other services) actively use them. The flight attendants discuss the news about coronavirus in the chat, but say that there is no panic. At least until now, nobody has refused to go to work.

On the whole, the reaction of the employees is different. Someone's calm, someone's panicking. Obviously, the employees and the flight attendants' friends are worried. The National Airport ground workers are more worried.

There have been reports that the catering company has refused to take back the return of food from a flight back from Milan. The airport administration says "it's a tale." They say that the airport can't take returns of food from flights according to sanitary standards, and the people broadcasting such information, apparently, are not aware of the rules.

The flight attendants who worked on the flight to Baku have been removed from work. It is unknown whether they had a weekend after February 22, or whether they worked. The Belavia airline does not yet provide information on the number of passengers and flight attendants on Boeing, traveling from the Azerbaijani capital.

It is known that the National airport in Minsk carries out dual control of all flights, including direct flights from China and Italy.

- All citizens who were in Iran, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Italy and China must undergo coronavirus tests at special stations located at the airport terminal. There are four of them in total on our territory, - the airport officials said. - As for the terminal building itself, disinfectants are located throughout its territory. They can be used by both arriving and departing passengers and staff. Cleaning and reinforced disinfection measures are regularly held in all premises. All personnel involved in servicing passengers and aircraft are equipped with personal protective equipment.