A first case of coronavirus in Algeria

Text by: RFI Follow

Authorities announced last night the first known case of coronavirus on their soil. After Egypt two weeks earlier, Algeria becomes the second country on the African continent officially affected by the epidemic.

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The Algerian Minister of Health confirmed this to the 8 pm newspaper on national television last night: the virus was detected on an Italian national who arrived in Algeria on February 17.

According to the ministry, it is the surveillance system put in place which has made it possible to report two suspected cases, and of these two suspected cases, only one has been positive. Algerian television indicates that the patient was placed in quarantine at the Pasteur Institute in the capital. But the circumstances of his infection have not yet been established.

The Algerian authorities claim to have "further strengthened the prevention system around the confirmed case, and the surveillance and monitoring system at all entry points " in the country.

Last week, a report published by several epidemiologists in the journal The Lancet investigated Africa's vulnerability to the coronovirus. According to the researchers, Algeria is one of the three most important gateways to the epidemic on the continent, along with Egypt and South Africa.

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• Algeria
• coronavirus

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