Almost 100 Senegalese soldiers test positive for coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: A Senegalese army soldier sits at the entrance of the tent used as a waiting room for patients waiting their turn for examination at the army field hospital, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Touba, Senegal May 1, 2020. Picture taken May 1, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Nearly 100 Senegalese soldiers tested positive this week for the coronavirus after returning home from a deployment in neighbouring Gambia, a military source said on Friday.

The source said testing continued of the contingent of 600 soldiers, who are part of a force deployed in 2017 to enforce President Adama Barrow's election victory over then-President Yahya Jammeh.

The source did not say how the soldiers may have been infected.

Senegal has recorded 14,193 cases of COVID-19, including 293 deaths. Gambia, which is mostly surrounded by Senegal, has confirmed 3,293 cases and 99 deaths.

(Reporting by Diadie Ba; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by Philippa Fletcher)