MINSK (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday he had had the coronavirus without any symptoms and had already recovered from it, the BELTA news agency quoted him as saying.
“Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. Doctors came to such a conclusion yesterday. Asymptomatic,” Lukashenko said during a meeting with the military.
The 65-year-old leader has resisted calls to impose lockdown measures or close the borders to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the eastern European country.
He has previously dismissed fears about the pandemic as a “psychosis” and suggested remedies such as drinking vodka or taking saunas to battle the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday, 67,366 cases of coronavirus were registered in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people, with 543 deaths, according to the health ministry.
Frustration over his handling of the pandemic has fuelled opposition protests against Lukashenko ahead of an election on August 9.
(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Gareth Jones)
