Tunisian parliament speaker Ghannouchi contracts Covid-19

The speaker of Tunisia's parliament and the leader of the Islamist Ennahda Party, Rached Ghannouchi, has contracted Covid-19, an advisor to Ghannouchi told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ghannouchi, 80, is at home and will work remotely, the advisor said.

Ghannouchi, the leader of the biggest party in the parliament, received two doses of an anti-Covid vaccine this year.

Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in Covid-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, health authorities said, after successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year.

In total, Tunisia has recorded more than 500,000 coronavirus cases and about 16,500 deaths.

(Reuters)