He made the announcement at a meeting with security officials ahead of the country's election in two weeks' time. 

'Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet. This is what doctors concluded yesterday. Asymptomatic,' Lukashenko said.

'As I said, 97% of our population carry this infection asymptomatically,' he added. He did not give a source for that figure.

President Lukashenko previously described fears over the pandemic as 'psychosis' and suggested that people drink vodka and go to the sauna to stay healthy and stave off the virus.

Belarus, with a population of 9.5 million, has recorded 67,366 coronavirus cases with 543 deaths.