Vitsebsk Man Dies Of Coronavirus Infection On ALV

Uladzimir Sidarau could become infected with COVID-19 in a hospital.

On the night of April 2, military pensioner Uladzimir Sidarau died in the Vitsebsk Regional Clinical Specialized Center, he was 70 years old, the son of the deceased Andrei told tut.by. On March 13, the man was placed in the surgery department with a diagnosis of popliteal thrombosis, and five days later he was discharged home with a temperature of 38. They said that flu should be treated at home. But the man’s condition worsened, two days later he was given an X-ray in the clinic - and from there he was taken to the same hospital with bilateral pneumonia. For five days the patient was in the intensive care unit on artificial lung ventilation, but he could not be saved. The man had a positive test for the coronavirus. His wife also has a confirmed COVID-19 infection, she is now in the infectious diseases hospital with pneumonia.

Andrei Sidarau says that his father did not leave the house for almost two weeks before getting into the surgical department: his knee was so sore that he could hardly walk.

- In the hospital he was diagnosed with popliteal thrombosis. They instilled it for five days, treated it, and he was discharged on March 19, says Andrei. - Despite the fact that he had a high fever - 38. They said that it was the flu, that he should go to the clinic at the place of residence.

Relatives recall that at home the man was getting worse: the temperature rose, a cough appeared. The wife of the pensioner recalls that they first called a doctor to the house.

“The doctor listened to him, said that the lungs were clean, there were no rales, and she prescribed a second antibiotic,” says Mrs. Tatsiana. “But the temperature was already 39, it was impossible to beat it off, my husband began to choke. We called the doctor again: she said that he had rales, most likely it was pneumonia. The clinic did an X-ray and found bilateral pneumonia. He was taken by the ambulance to the same hospital he had been to - but to the cardiology department.

The wife says that since her husband’s condition worsened, he was placed in the intensive care unit, for five days he was on the artificial lung ventilation, on the night of April 2, the man died.

“My husband’s test for the coronavirus was positive,” says Mrs. Tatsiana. “But we did not immediately learn about it. When the ambulance took him, my daughter and my family came to my house to support me. They spent there an hour and a half. Then my coronavirus test came back positive, so I’m staying in the infectious diseases hospital with pneumonia. My daughter, her husband and children are also under the supervision of doctors. The daughter and granddaughter have a negative test for coronavirus, the son-in-law and grandson are waiting for the result. A woman is lying with me in the ward, whose husband was also at first in the hospital, then he was discharged home, and from there they already took him with the coronavirus - he is in intensive care on the artificial lung ventilation. How could my husband get infected? We have one version - in the hospital.

“I'm in the infectious diseases hospital,” says Iryna, the daughter of the deceased Uladzimir Sidarau. “I have a negative test for the coronavirus, but an X-ray showed pneumonia, and my daughter has bronchitis. The husband and son do not know their results yet. Although I’m in the same hospital with my mother, we can’t meet, leaving the ward is prohibited.

Since the whole family in Vitsebsk is in hospital, they will not be able to say goodbye to the deceased grandfather, father and husband.

The funeral is organized by his son Andrei, who came from Minsk.

“We have only one version: my father became infected in the hospital,” the man says. “He was not abroad; the parents also did not have guests abroad. He could barely walk, and did not go out until he got into surgery. I still don’t understand how they could discharge him with high temperature ...

Andrei asked this question in the hospital. There they explained to him that on March 19 the situation in Vitsebsk and in Belarus as a whole was peaceful, no one suspected that a patient who had not traveled abroad and had no contact with arrivals from abroad, could have the coronavirus. Symptoms were mistakenly taken for the flu, and so that the patient would not infect others, he was sent home from surgery for treatment. Moreover, in the Vitsebsk Regional Clinical Specialized Center there is no infectious diseases department, namely, the first patients with coronavirus were delivered to such. Just a week later, this hospital was reoriented to see patients with suspected and confirmed coronavirus, which is why Uladzimir Sidarau ended up in the cardiology department.

“They say in the hospital that on the contrary, they believe that my father became the source of infection,” says Andrei Sidarau. “But now it's all at the level of speculations.” No one can precisely establish with whom it all began.

The death certificate of Uladzimir Sidarau - the photo is in the editors’ office of tut.by- states the following: acute respiratory failure, viral pneumonia (COVID-19), the main cause of death is the coronavirus.

The situation in Vitsebsk is still difficult, not only the Sidaraus speak about this, but also other patients and their relatives who appeal to the media every day.

The Ministry of Health does not provide statistics by regions, but it is known that Vitsebsk takes the second place in the country in terms of the number of infected people (after Minsk).

In total, according to the official data, as of April 2, Belarus 300 cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in Belarus, of which 42 people recovered and were discharged home, 4 people died.

75-year-old actor from Vitsebsk Viktar Dashkevich is considered the first victim, the second victim is 70-year-old teacher from the Kopyl region Natallia Arlova (not officially confirmed), the third - 73-year-old pensioner from Vitsebsk Natallia Chepik. Nothing is known about the fourth. It could be Uladzimir Sidarau, but we can’t say for sure: firstly, according to our data, this case should be included in the statistics by the date of registration of the death certificate - that is, on April 3, and secondly, the editor’s office received several more requests from relatives regarding the deaths of their family members from the coronavirus - we are currently checking this information.

All of the above patients were on the artificial lung ventilation. As Aliaksandr Lukashenka said on April 2, only 11 patients with the coronavirus are on the ALV units. But last Friday, Deputy Health Minister Alena Bohdan said that as of March 27, not a single patient with confirmed coronavirus was on the ventilator.

Neither the Ministry of Health, nor other state bodies were the first to report deaths, they only confirm information about deaths already published in the media.

The World Health Organization has called on the Ministry of Health to improve citizen awareness of the situation with the coronavirus in the country.