Coronavirus: why Algeria is one of the three most affected countries in Africa

Text by: Magali Lagrange Follow

Algeria has nearly 8,700 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and just over 600 deaths. Even if they remain well below those of other states, these figures place it in the trio of countries most affected by coronavirus on the African continent, behind South Africa and Egypt.

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The first explanation for the health situation in Algeria is linked to the country's relations with Europe, for economic and historical reasons. Algeria is particularly turned towards the countries of the northern shore of the Mediterranean - France, Italy, Spain -, themselves very affected by the pandemic.

As in Morocco and Tunisia, the first cases confirmed on Algerian soil at the end of February are therefore imported from the Old Continent by European workers or Algerians living abroad. Thus at least 16 members of the same family from the wilaya of Blida, southwest of Algiers, are contaminated. This area has also become the epicenter of the epidemic.

Screening capacity

Another element of explanation to understand the number of cases registered in a country: its capacity to carry out tests. In the case of Algeria, this has increased over time. At the time of the first cases, it was low. Only one laboratory, attached to the Pasteur Institute on site, was approved to perform these screenings. Others are now able to do so in universities or private structures.

According to the Algerian journalist Akram Kharief, who was himself contaminated, it is also the number of health structures in Algeria which explains the importance of the cases identified. “  The country has a substantial health network, with more than 550 hospitals. So there is detection, and patients present themselves a little more than elsewhere, since they have access to these hospital structures  , ”he explains. Therefore, the more people are tested, the more the numbers increase.

A fragile but not saturated health system

If Algeria therefore presents a higher number of cases than other African countries, its health system is not however submerged for the moment. However, his condition aroused fears at the start of the pandemic, with hospitals under pressure, particularly in the wilaya of Blida, and medical personnel lacking means and protective equipment.

These fears were also linked to the fragility of the Algerian health system, which has lacked resources for several years. "  No health system in the world was ready to face a situation of this magnitude,  " said Dr. Lyes Merabet, president of the National Union of Public Health Practitioners (SNPSP). “  The peculiarity of ours is that it has known problems for years, and that reforms have been underway for fifteen years. But this reform was never accompanied by real political will, he adds. In 15 years of reform, almost 10 ministers have succeeded  ». 

Lyes Merbat specifies, however, that resuscitation services are not currently saturated. According to journalist Akram Kharief, the specially set up Covid pavilions have a filling rate of 60%, which means that the health situation can still be properly managed.

Political will

The number of cases communicated is also the result of political will. To be able to manage the health crisis, of course, but not only. According to Thomas Serres, research professor at the University of California Santa Cruz, it is for the Algerian government to show that there is an emergency. This will can be interpreted in two ways: in a rather benevolent way, and through a police reading of events.

"  The benevolent way is to say that the regime is in deep lack of credibility and that, logically, they seized this crisis head on to rebuild their stature. I think that for someone like President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected in December, who has no popular legitimacy, the legitimacy of the emergency is a way to build stature,  ”explains Thomas Serres.

"  The second reading - which is not benevolent but which may have been part of the reading grid of the Algerian activists with whom I have been in contact - is the fact that it fell relatively well to end the" Hirak ". And so, from this point of view, the health emergency is taken head-on, because it allows an end to a political emergency.  "

The "hirakists" indeed denounce a repression on the part of the Algerian authorities (arrests, censorship of online newspapers ...) since the suspension of their weekly marches in mid-March, due to the health situation.

► Read also : Coronavirus: Africa facing the pandemic on Tuesday May 26

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