“ Europe’s last dictator” tested positive for COVID-19 after advocating drinking vodka and going to saunas to stay healthy during the coronavirus pandemic.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, 65, announced that he recovered from the coronavirus “on his feet” and never showed any symptoms of the respiratory illness.
“Today, you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. This is what doctors concluded yesterday. Asymptomatic,” Lukashenko said, according to Reuters. “As I said, 97% of our population carry this infection asymptomatically,” the longtime president added without providing a source for that claim.
Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, had previously called fear about the coronavirus pandemic a “psychosis” and advocated drinking vodka and using saunas to fight the virus.
In striking contrast to its European neighbors, Belarus has kept its borders open during the pandemic and even allowed soccer matches to be played with live audiences.
Lukashenko claimed in April that none of his country’s people would die from COVID-19. But as of Tuesday, the country has reported more than 67,000 cases and at least 543 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.