Scores of Senegalese soldiers deployed to neighbouring Gambia have tested positive for Coronavirus, a Senegalese army official said on Thursday.
The soldiers are part of a West African peacekeeping force deployed to Gambia in January 2017 after the country’s former dictator, Yahya Jammeh, refused to hand over power after losing a presidential election.
The majority of the troops in the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) force are from Senegal, which completely surrounds the tiny former British colony.
Senegalese army spokesman said out of a contingent of over 600 men, about 100 tested positive.
He added that the soldiers who had tested positive have been placed in a hotel in the coastal village of Guerero, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital Dakar.
