The leaders of several former Soviet republics in Central Asia and elsewhere are still denying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic , weeks after most other governments abandoned that approach. In Turkmenistan, ranked worst in the world for press freedom last year by Reporters Without Borders , state media began reporting on the virus only last week, monitors say. The president has promoted a medicinal herb as a cure. In Belarus, the president has kept schools and businesses open while promoting folk remedies like steaming in a sauna or drinking vodka, saying, “It’s better to die on your feet than on your knees.” And in Tajikistan, the authorities herded thousands of students into a stadium for a Persian new year party, at which the president gave a speech extolling his citizens’ cleanliness as a reason the epidemic has not taken hold there. Caught in strange […]