Scores of Senegalese troops deployed to The Gambia test positive for COVID-19

DAKAR, Senegal

Scores of Senegalese soldiers deployed to neighboring The Gambia have tested positive for COVID-19.

“Out of a contingent of over 600 men, fewer than 100 tested positive,” a Senegalese army spokesman said on Thursday.

According to the spokesman, the army had recalled its soldiers to the village of Toubacouta just north of the Gambian border “as a precautionary measure.”

Further tests were underway, the spokesman said, adding that the soldiers who had tested positive have been placed in a hotel in the coastal village of Guerero, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the capital Dakar.

He, however, did not specify when or where the soldiers had been infected.

The troops are a part of a West African peacekeeping force deployed in January 2017 to The Gambia 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 Senegalese, which completely surrounds the tiny former British colony.

“So far, The Gambia has recorded 3,239 COVID-19 cases with 99 fatalities.

Senegal has recorded 14,150 cases and 293 fatalities.