Algeria's Tebboune makes first TV appearance since spell in hospital with Covid-19

Algerian president says he needs up to three weeks to fully recover

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune made his first televised appearance since he was hospitalised in Germany with coronavirus. AFP

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Sunday he was recovering from Covid-19, in his first televised appearance since he was admitted to hospital in Germany almost two months ago.

"Thanks to God ... I have started on the road to recovery," Mr Tebboune, 75, said a day after the first anniversary of his election.

"It may take two or three weeks but, God willing, I will recover all my bodily strength."

The video was broadcast on state television and published on Mr Tebboune's Twitter feed.

He did not indicate his location, but the Twitter feed carried the comment "we will meet soon on the territory of the nation".

Mr Tebboune, was admitted on October 28, and Algerian authorities later announced that he had Covid-19.

Little was made public about his progress. The prolonged absence stirred echoes of predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who spent months in hospital and out of the public eye before his bid for re-election triggered mass uprisings that led to his resignation.

Mr Tebboune has been unable to sign a revised constitution into law because he must be on Algerian soil to do so.

He also has until December 31 to sign off on a 2021 budget.

But he said on Sunday he was following developments in Algeria "day by day, if not hour by hour".

Visibly thinner and wearing a casual jacket, he sat at a desk next to an Algerian flag.

Mr Tebboune won last year's widely boycotted December 12 presidential election, called after months of mass protests.