MINSK, June 16./TASS/. Belarus reported 689 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with their overall number rising to 55,369, the nation’s Health Ministry reported on Thursday, saying that six patients had died.

"A total of 55,369 people have tested positive for COVID-19 [overall]. Over the entire period of the infection’s spread in the country, 318 patients with some chronic illnesses and confirmed coronavirus infection have died," the ministry said in a report.

As of June 16, 31,273 patients earlier diagnosed with the novel coronavirus have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals (853 of them recovering in the past day). A total of 760,549 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Belarus, the ministry said on its Telegram Channel. As many as 10,632 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

Belarus did not impose any lockdowns. The World Health Organization (WHO) insistently recommended that the Belarusian authorities enhance social distancing and give up on mass events.

Nonetheless, Belarus held a large-scale military parade in Minsk on May 9 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. Preparations are underway for the presidential election scheduled for August 9.

On June 16, President Alexander Lukashenko praised the country’s ‘exemplary’ battle against the pandemic. Chief Sanitary Doctor Natalya Zhukova said last week that the nation was seeing a gradual decline in coronavirus cases. However, Batyr Brerdyklychev, the WHO representative in Belarus, does not share their optimism, saying the country is still at the local transmission stage of COVID-19, and the situation is serious.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 8,130,600 people have been infected worldwide and more than 439,400 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 4,244,800 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.