CONGO PRESIDENT ISOLATING AFTER COVID IN ENTOURAGE

"In accordance with health protocols... the head of state, deemed to be a close contact, is required to observe a period of isolation," read a presidency statement without specifying the duration of his quarantine.

FILE: President of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso. Picture: United Nations.

AFP 

BRAZZAVILLE - Congo-Brazzaville's 78-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso was isolating on Sunday after several of the long-serving strongman's entourage tested positive for coronavirus.

"In accordance with health protocols... the head of state, deemed to be a close contact, is required to observe a period of isolation," read a presidency statement without specifying the duration of his quarantine.

Sassou Nguesso, a retired paratrooper who has led Congo-Brazzaville for 37 years over two terms in office, tested negative.

He was represented by Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso at a Turkey-Africa summit in Istanbul this week and has postponed a visit to Congo's economic capital Pointe-Noire to January.

Congo-Brazzaville recently lifted Covid curbs, including restrictions on weddings.

The oil-rich central African country has recorded at least 360 deaths caused by COVID-19.