Mauritania president contracts Covid-19 as country sees highest ever daily cases

News of the president's infection comes as Mauritania recorded its highest-ever daily Covid case numbers on Monday

1 min read

04 January, 2022

President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is exhibiting only mild Covid symptoms, his office said [Getty]

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has tested positive for Covid-19, his office announced on Monday night, as cases of the virus surge in the country.

Ghazouani, 65, tested positive for Covid-19 after exhibiting "mild" symptoms, the presidency's office said in a statement.

The president had only recently recovered from the flu, according to the statement.

Mauritania announced its first 14 cases of the Omicron variant last week. The number of Covid cases has since surged.

The Mauritanian health ministry said Monday that it had recorded 490 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours - the highest-ever daily total on record, and more than one percent of all Covid cases the country has recorded since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The country has administered two vaccine doses to about one-fifth of its total population, according to official figures.