Cote d’Ivoire’s Ouattara recovers after testing positive for COVID-19 – Presidency

Cote d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) after being exposed to the coronavirus but has now recovered, the presidency said on Wednesday.

The presidency’s statement said Ouattara tested negative on Wednesday and he has returned to his usual activities.

Ouattara’s office announced on Aug. 3 that he was self-isolating but did not previously announce that he tested positive.

He decided to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for the virus, his office said.

Cote d’Ivoire currently has more than 50, 499 COVID-19 cases, with more than 49 553 recoveries and nearly 350 deaths.

Early last month, the West African country began sending mobile clinics to markets and other busy areas in its main city Abidjan in an effort to turbocharge the vaccination campaign against COVID-19.

According to a Reuter’s tracker, the country has now administered more than one million doses of COVID vaccines so far.

Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 2 per cent of the country’s population.

Like many African countries, Cote d’Ivoire has seen vaccinations get off to a slow start due to limited supplies as well as wariness or indifference toward the vaccines.

But officials say things are picking up due to better communication, including promotions at soccer matches.

The country has received at least a million doses of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Sinopharm vaccines to date, and the government said it was expecting to take delivery of 1.2 million more doses by mid-July.