Tunisian parliament speaker Ghannouchi contracts COVID-19, advisor says

Ghannouchi, the leader of the biggest party in the parliament, received two doses of an anti-COVID vaccine this year. Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, health authorities said, after successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year.

The speaker of Tunisia's parliament and the leader of the Islamist Ennahda Party, Rached Ghannouchi, has contracted COVID-19, an advisor to Ghannouchi told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ghannouchi, 80, is in hospital for medical tests and will spend the night under medical observation, the advisor said, adding he was in a normal condition. The advisor said earlier Ghannouchi was at home. Ghannouchi, the leader of the biggest party in the parliament, received two doses of an anti-COVID vaccine this year.

Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, health authorities said, after successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year. The North African country on Tuesday recorded 157 deaths, the highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.

In total, Tunisia has recorded more than 500,000 coronavirus cases and about 16,500 deaths. (Reporting By Tarek Amara Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Richard Pullin)