2020-03-30 at 12:10 PM UTC
President Alexander Lukashenko took part in an ice hockey match on Saturday - controversially declaring that sport "is the best anti-virus remedy".
At the event, he told a reporter: "It's better to die standing on your feet than to live on your knees."
When asked if there was anything that would stop him playing ice hockey, Mr Lukashenko replied: "It is possible, but why? I don't understand. There are no viruses here.
"Did you see any of them flying around? I don't see them too. This is a fridge."
So far, 94 coronavirus cases have been reported in Belarus, a former Soviet nation that is home to 9.5 million people.
Mr Lukashenko, an avid ice hockey player who has been in power since 1994, has downplayed the need for social distancing - and Belarus is one of the only countries that has taken few measures to curb COVID-19's spread.
In recent weeks, the president has suggested that Belarusians should drink 50ml of vodka a day to ward off the virus, but not at work - advice that is completely at odds with recommendations from the World Health Organisation.
He has also stated that regular trips to the sauna, working in the fields and having breakfast on time are the best ways to stay healthy - dismissing stricter measures imposed in neighbouring Russia and elsewhere as "frenzy and psychosis".
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-belarus-president-refuses-to-cancel-anything-and-says-vodka-and-saunas-will-ward-off-coronavirus-11965396
The following users say it would be alright if the author of this
post didn't die in a fire!
2020-03-30 at 2:08 PM UTC
"It's better to die standing on your feet than to live on your knees.""
Very true, be the receiver not the giver.
