New Somali President Tests Positive For COVID-19

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and was in self-isolation.

“My fellow citizens, I would like to inform you that today I tested positive for COVID-19. So far, I have no symptoms but I will continue to self-isolate and serve the people of #Somalia from home,” he said on Friday on his Twitter account.

Abdikarim Ali Kaar, Mohamud’s spokesperson, said the president had returned to Somalia on Friday from a trip to the United Arab Emirates.

The official Somali president’s Twitter account shows a video of him meeting the president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with both men wearing masks, dated June 22. He also met Somalis based in the UAE.

Somalia has so far registered 26,748 COVID-19 cases and 1,361 deaths, according to a tally from its health ministry.

Mohamud took office in May after winning the presidential vote for the second time, having previously served from 2012 to 2017.

Source: Reuters