From the DW
“Belarus President Alexander
Lukashenko says he had 'asymptomatic' coronavirus”
President Alexander Lukashenko
said he was "asymptomatic" and working while infected with COVID-19.
Lukashenko, who is running for a sixth presidential term, has dismissed
pandemic concerns and touted odd remedies. Belarusian President Alexander
Lukashenko told military officials that he had contracted and recovered from
COVID-19, Belarusian BELTA news agency reported on Tuesday. Lukashenko said he
had no symptoms while infected. "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, adding that he continued to work while infected. The claims come just
a matter of days before presidential elections. "As I have said, 97 per
cent of our population is carrying this infection asymptomatically. Thank God
that I have managed to get into this cohort of the asymptomatic," he said,
without providing evidence for this assertion. Lukashenko has been president of
Belarus, a former Soviet republic that remains a close ally of Russia, for a
quarter of a century and is now seeking a sixth consecutive term in upcoming
elections on August 9. Belarus' previous presidential elections have been
widely criticized as not being free or fair. During his tenure, dissent and
independent media have been suppressed, while prominent political opponents
have been frequently jailed and sometimes held for years. Two of his strongest
challengers in this election have been jailed and prevented from registering
their candidacies. Lukashenko is now expected to come out victorious in the
vote next week.
COVID fears are 'psychosis' As the pandemic broadened in April,
Lukashenko said in that no one in his country would die from the virus and that
any deaths would be a result of underlying conditions, such as heart disease or
diabetes. The 65-year-old president has since resisted calls to impose lockdown
measures or close the borders to contain the spread of the coronavirus
pandemic, saying that the harm to the economy would be worse than the virus
itself. Lukashenko has dismissed fears about the pandemic as a
"psychosis" and gone as far as suggesting remedies such as drinking
vodka, taking saunas and playing ice hockey. Some, 67,366 cases of coronavirus
have been registered in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people, with 543
deaths, according to the country's health ministry. Belarus has been rocked by
protests in recent weeks, as demonstrators have rallied have rallied behind
Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, the wife of one of the jailed candidates, who is
campaigning in her husband's place.
^ Any politician that denies that
Covid-19 is deadly and doesn’t take it seriously tends to get sick with it (the
British Prime Minister, the Brazilian President and now the Belarussian
President.) It’s called karma. ^
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