On Tuesday, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka voiced the updated information on the coronavirus situation in the country.
As of May 4, Belarusian health professionals registered 17,489 persons infected with the novel coronavirus.
In the past 24 hours, the infection number has risen by 861 cases. In total, 18,350 persons have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the beginning of the epidemic in Belarus.
“It is only 8.7% of all the persons we have taken tests from. To date, we have conducted 211,369 tests within two and a half months,” the Belarusian leader said.
Notably, he did not specify the death toll, but later the Health Ministry reported 107 COVID-19 deaths (+4 over the last day).
According to the ministry, 3,771 persons have already recovered.
In spite of the increasing infection rate, the Belarusian authorities have not introduced any quarantine measures yet. President Lukashenka believes that imposing a nationwide lockdown would not improve the situation in Belarus. In his opinion, such steps might deal a crippling blow to the daily life of the nation. Although the head of state admitted that the recommendations by the World Health Organisation should be studied in detail, he stressed the country would run its own course.
