Mauritanian president tests positive for COVID-19

Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was displaying mild symptoms of COVID-19 on Tuesday after testing positive, the presidency said on Tuesday.

Ghazouani, who came to power in August 2019, was found to be infected after having a fever, it said in a statement posted on Facebook. Mauritania recorded 490 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic.

The West African country has reported 862 deaths from COVID-19 among its 4.6 million people, while more than 2.3 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to World Health Organization data.