MOSCOW

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Tuesday that he had suffered an asymptomatic form of the novel coronavirus "out of bed".

The conclusion was made basing on the results of medical test, Lukashenko said during his visit to military unit of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Minsk.

"The most surprising thing is that today you meet a person who managed to recover of coronavirus out of bed. The doctors made this conclusion yesterday. Asymptomatic form. 97% of the population has asymptomatic form. Thank God I was able to get into this cohort of asymptomatic patients," the president said.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 655,000 lives in 188 countries and regions.

More than 16.53 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 9.61 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.