Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the state news agency, which noted that the 65-year-old's symptoms were "mild".

The president, in power since August 2019, was tested on on Monday "after contracting a cold", the Mauritanian News Agency said, adding that there was a "positive result and a contamination by Covid-19 with mild symptoms".

The poor Sahel country of 4.5 million people has reported 872 deaths from nearly 43,000 cases of Covid since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The former French colony became the first West African country and the 12th on the continent to reach the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating at least 10 percent of its population before the end of September, according to the WHO.

Nearly 1.3 million people had been vaccinated as of Monday.