Coronavirus: Algeria president to be quarantined after staff test positive
Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will start a five-day quarantine from Saturday after senior staff tested positive for the highly-infectious coronavirus, according to a statement by his office.
"It has been revealed that several senior officials at the presidency and the prime ministry have showed symptoms of the coronavirus," the president's office said in a statement on Facebook.
"The presidency's medical team has therefore advised the President of the Republic to begin a voluntary five-day quarantine from 24 October 2020," it added.
Algeria has so far reported 55,630 cases of Covid-19 infections and 1,897 deaths.
Tebboune was elected president in December 2019, with 58 percent of the vote.
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The election was marred by attacks on polling stations and the lowest turnout in the country's history.
The vote was championed by the army as a way of restoring stability almost 10 months into a protest movement that forced the removal of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 82, after two decades in office.
Protesters slammed the election as a charade to keep the ruling elite in power, with all five of the candidates widely rejected as "children of the regime".
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