Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the ruling party's candidate in October's presidential election, has flown to France for medical checks, the presidency said on Sunday.

The brief statement said Gon Coulibaly left on Saturday but gave no details about his state of health. A source close to Gon Coulibaly, who had heart surgery in 2012, said the prime minister had missed a scheduled check-up in France in April because he was busy coordinating Ivory Coast's coronavirus response. "His intense activity these last weeks had an impact on his health, but it is nothing very serious.