November 30, 2020
President Tebboune, on the road to recovery, will return to the country in the next few days
The President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune is on the road to recovery and will return to the country in the next few days, said Monday the Presidency of the Republic in a statement.
“In accordance with the recommendations of the medical staff, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is continuing his convalescence after leaving the specialised hospital in Germany, reassures the Algerian people that he is now on the road to recovery and that he will return to the country in the next few days,” the statement said.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Procurement of the vaccine against CVD19: Djerad reaffirms the mobilisation of all financial and material resources
Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad on Sunday chaired an inter-ministerial council devoted to the assessment of the epidemiological situation related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and the measures to be taken in anticipation of the acquisition of the vaccine against the disease, a statement by the Prime Minister’s office said.
The meeting was attended by the ministers of the Interior, Transport, Health, Pharmaceutical Industry and Hospital Reform, as well as the president of the National Health Security Agency. The meeting provided an opportunity to study “the evolution of the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 as well as the adapted health system put in place at the level of hospital structures and the mobilisation of additional means and resources to deal with the recent increase in the number of patients”, the communiqué states.
In addition, “the question of acquiring the COVID-19 vaccine has been examined, particularly in the light of the progress made in the development and testing phase of this product by several pharmaceutical companies”, adds the same source.
In this regard, the Prime Minister reiterated “the commitment of the President of the Republic to acquire the COVID vaccine for the benefit of our citizens as soon as possible”, while indicating that “the choice of the product, which is primarily the responsibility of the health authority, must offer guarantees of quality and reliability and be approved by the World Health Organisation”.
Furthermore, he stressed that this issue “is of the highest priority for the public authorities, who will mobilise all financial and material resources in this framework”. The Prime Minister also called for “the establishment of an operational mechanism in charge of preparing all the logistical aspects related to the vaccine import operation as well as its storage and distribution”.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 29, 2020
Algerians stranded abroad: The government is once again questioning the government
An immigration deputy maintains pressure on the Algerian authorities to resume repatriation operations for Algerians stranded abroad.
In a BBC video published yesterday, Friday, November 28, the deputy of immigration for the North Africa and Middle East zone, Amira Slim calls on the Algerian government to mobilize and resume operations to repatriate Algerians stranded abroad.
[…] Thousands of Algerians are still stranded abroad since 17 March, following the closure of borders between countries, in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
A survey on the impact of the health crisis launched at the end of December
A survey designed to assess the impact of the health crisis of COVID-19 on companies and households will be launched at the end of December and the first results of which will be available in January, said the Minister Delegate in charge of Foresight, Mohamed-Cherif Belmihoub.
In an interview with APS, the minister said that a survey will be launched at the end of December in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), to assess the impact of the health crisis on Algerian businesses and households. This survey “will cover a sample of 15,000 households and 15,000 businesses. Its first results are expected in January,” Belmihoub said.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Air Algérie : Resumption of domestic flights next Sunday
The domestic flights of the national airline company Air Algérie will resume next Sunday. A decision taken in an interministerial council, reported the daily Liberté on Sunday, November 29, 2020. All the planes of Air Algérie, which serve domestic and international routes, have been grounded since last March, except for the planes dedicated to the repatriation of Algerians stranded abroad.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Hospitals transformed into COVID-19 services in Aïn Témouchent
Hospitals in the wilaya of Aïn Témouchent are under pressure in the face of the resurgence of coronavirus contaminations, and the health services of the same wilaya are opting for a new strategy to contain the pandemic. The country is experiencing a turbulent end of the year, marked by an alarming increase in cases of COVID-19. Faced with such an alarming situation, the health and population management of the wilaya of Aïn Témouchent decided to act quickly, by adapting a new strategy to contain the epidemiological situation throughout the wilaya.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
COVID-19 test prices skyrocket: The association of private labs explains itself
The president of the National Association of Medical Analysis Laboratories (ALMA), Dr. Abdelhalim Chachou speaks about the soaring prices of PCR and serological tests in private laboratories in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indeed, in an interview with our colleagues from ‘TSA’, Dr Abdelhalim Chachou, explained the increase in the price of PCR and serological tests by replying: “Certainly, for a Swede or a German not to speak French, it is also expensive if you take away the reimbursement of social security”. The same speaker suggested that the state should create a mechanism for exceptional state support, but that “this mechanism must be accompanied by a codification of the entire process to avoid abuse and abuses”, he added.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Coronavirus Algeria: More than a quarter of the samples taken are positive
Of the 300,000 samples taken since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, just over 80,000 have tested positive, i.e. a rate of over 25%. According to the head of the Institut Pasteur, the establishment covers between 60 and 65% of the diagnosis of PCR test samples, carried out on a national scale thanks to a total of 45 public laboratories. Thus, samples are taken in public hospital screening centres open within public health establishments.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 28, 2020
Algeria plunged into uncertainty after a month’s absence of President Tebboune positive at COVID-19
Rumours and speculation are growing in Algeria about the state of health of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, since his hospitalization in Germany last month following a COVID-19 contamination.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Coronavirus in Algeria: Vaccine, price of tests, containment What you need to know
The Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Abderrahmane Benbouzid, spoke today, 28 November, during a working visit to Boumerdès. The Algerian health minister confided in the price of the new test, and he also brought up the subject of the coronavirus vaccine again. And this, while confirming his promises kept during his speech on November 19. As a reminder, during the speech in question, the Minister pledged to put all the chances on his side to obtain the vaccine against COVID-19 as soon as possible. It is in this same wake that Mr. Abderrahmane Benbouzid announced the start of the procedures concerning the vaccine against COVID-19. He said that the processing of vaccine choices would begin next week. This is in any case what the French-language daily Algérie 360 reported.
In addition, the Minister spoke about the price of serological tests for Coronavirus. He specified that: “these tests consist of a blood test to check whether or not the patient develops antibodies”. Benbouzid also added that the price of the rapid tests will be clearly affordable and cheaper compared to the PCR test. As it is estimated to be 10 (ten) times cheaper than the PCR test. According to the aforementioned French-language daily newspaper …] According to the Arabic-language daily Ennahar, the minister has stated that the implementation of total containment is ruled out for the time being. Because according to him, many citizens will be impacted in the wrong direction by this measure. It is therefore in everyone’s interest to respect the sanitary measures put in place by the government, so as not to reach the point of confinement.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Seasonal flu vaccination campaign and COVID-19 screening
The command of the second military region has organized a vaccination campaign against seasonal flu and screening of COVID-19, through the use of rapid tests, for the benefit of inhabitants of remote areas in the wilaya of Sidi Bel Abbes, said Friday a press release from the Ministry of National Defense.
Within the framework of this campaign, “medical examinations were provided to the inhabitants of these isolated regions by a medical team equipped with all the necessary material means and composed of qualified doctors from the military health services of the second military region, which made the citizens aware of the dangerousness of the pandemic and the means of prevention,” the document states.
The health campaign was well received by the citizens, who “welcomed this kind of humane initiative and expressed their gratitude to the National People’s Army for its noble efforts to help and support citizens, especially those living in border areas and landlocked regions,” the statement concluded.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
COVID-19: A group of laboratories offers PCR at 8,900 DA
A group of private medical analysis laboratories, announced, with the support of IMD, a company producing sampling kits and PCR results, a reduction in the price of these virological tests by offering a public price of 8,900 DA, the Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry said Saturday in a press release.
“In consultation with the Ministry of the Pharmaceutical Industry, and as part of the pooling of efforts and resources for the response against COVID-19, and in order to improve the accessibility of PCR tests to the general public, a group of private medical analysis laboratories, with the support of IMD, a company producing PCR sampling kits and results, is announcing a reduction in the price of PCR tests by offering a public price of DA8,900”, the press release states. The laboratories concerned are currently nine (9) deployed in the cities of Algiers, Bejaia, Ghardaia, Tizi Ouzou, according to the ministry which specifies that “other laboratories in different regions should join this initiative in the coming days.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 27, 2020
COVID-19: Receipt of a quantity of “Lovenox” in the near future
The Director General of the Central Pharmacy of Hospitals (PCH), Fatima Ouakti, announced Friday the “forthcoming” receipt by the PCH of a quantity of the drug “Lovenox” (anticoagulant) which is part of the therapeutic protocol against COVID-19. In a statement to the APS, the same official said that “the PCH currently has a sufficient stock of this substance on which demand has increased in recent days, adding that his body will soon receive a quantity imported by a laboratory, which is currently subject to the control of the National Agency for Medicines. She also deplored the fact that some doctors and pharmacists are buying the drug to stockpile it, hence the shortage on the market.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 26, 2020
Coronavirus: Companies announce the use of a “digital health passport”
According to the British newspaper Financial Times, five major airlines are planning to launch a scheme allowing passengers to use a non-mandatory “digital health passport” to certify that they do not have the coronavirus (COVID-19).
In addition, the companies in question are the German Lufthansa, the Americans United Airlines and JetBlue, the British Virgin Atlantic and finally Swiss Air. These latter will begin to deploy the “commonpass” system on some of their flights from December onwards, the same source said.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
In Algeria, hospitals are under pressure in the face of the resurgence of coronavirus contaminations
Since the beginning of November, Algeria has been experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. On 17 November, the figures even reached a record high, exceeding the threshold of 1,000 contaminations per day. Since the first recorded case in February, the country has officially recorded just over 2,300 deaths and 77,000 contaminations.
[…] The intensive care unit of this university hospital, located in the west of the capital, is “saturated and outdated”, warns Professor Reda Malek Hamidi. “The patients who arrive at the pneumology emergency room and who need oxygen therapy have not found a place,” explained the doctor on 19 November.This context of tension in the hospitals has given rise to wild rumours, one of which concerns the closure, due to overload, of the Mustapha Pacha University Hospital, the largest hospital in the country located in downtown Algiers. The information was quickly denied by the hospital director. This false news comes on top of the many speculations about the state of health of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who has been suffering and receiving treatment in Germany since 28 October.
…] Faced with the deteriorating situation, the authorities have restricted certain economic activities and imposed curfews in several provinces. They have also announced the importation of hundreds of thousands of PCR tests in the coming days. But, in the emergency, many patients are turning to private structures, where the price of a test varies between 12,000 and 18,000 dinars (78 and 117 euros).
This rate, which is close to the guaranteed national minimum wage (the Algerian SMIC), is considered excessive. The PCR tests “should be charged a maximum of 8,000 to 9,000 dinars [52 to 59 euros],” said Lotfi Ben Bahmed, Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry during a public radio intervention.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
COVID-19: Extension of exceptional traffic permits in Algiers
The wilaya of Algiers announced this Wednesday, November 25, 2020, in a communiqué published on its Facebook page, the extension of exceptional traffic certificates until December 1, 2020.
Within the framework of the mechanism approved by the public authorities concerning the management of the health situation related to the fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus, the Wali of Algiers informs all public and private institutions, as well as individuals holding an exceptional authorization to circulate with the services of the wilaya of Algiers or its administrative districts, that the exceptional traffic authorizations issued on November 10 and which expire on November 24, will remain valid and this, without the need for other authorizations, said the wilaya of Algiers in the same communiqué.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 25, 2020
COVID- 19: The epidemiological situation does not require the suspension of classes
The epidemiological situation in the country “does not currently require the suspension of classes” in schools, said Wednesday from Skikda the Minister of Interior, Local Government and Spatial Planning, Kamel Beldjoud, adding that the Ministry of Education is closely monitoring the situation.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
COVID-19: “The mask is compulsory in the car” (Video)
Algerian motorists must wear the mask inside their cars. The reminder of this measure was made by the commissioner and deputy director of the National Centre for Prevention and Road Safety, Rachid Ghazali. “Wearing a mask is compulsory in the car (…) for the driver and occupants,” the same official said yesterday on the national radio station’s Channel One.
“The wearing of the compulsory mask in cars caught my attention,” wrote Djerad in a letter he wrote to the Interior Minister, “it must be specified that the drivers of private vehicles and their occupants are not concerned by this obligation”. Since this instruction, the security services have turned a blind eye to the non-wearing of masks in cars, or even in public squares, but with the outbreak of COVID-19, the controversy over the usefulness of wearing the mask in vehicles is bouncing back.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Management of the repercussions of the health crisis maintained
Finance Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane, said yesterday Friday that the state will continue to deal with the fallout of the health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This expenditure mainly relates to “social contributions aimed at preserving the purchasing power of citizens, the consecration of additional allocations to cover the costs of occupational integration schemes”.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Milk chain: measures to overcome difficulties related to water stress and COVID-19
All the necessary measures to enable the dairy industry to overcome the difficulties currently facing its stakeholders, including farmers, because of water stress and health crisis, have been taken, said Wednesday the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abdelhamid Hemdani, quoted in a statement by the ministry.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
A bonus of 50,000 dinars for these professionals
A 50,000 dinars bonus for teaching professionals to cope with the coronavirus epidemic crisis in the school environment. Indeed, the National Commission of Social Works has revealed the new measures and procedures put in place to deal with the coronavirus epidemic in the school environment. It has been decided to devote a 50,000 dinars bonus for teaching professionals in Algeria, diagnosed positive to the coronavirus, according to the Arabic-speaking daily Echorouk.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Ministry of Justice unveils coronavirus assessment in prisons
In a press release made public yesterday, Belkacem Zeghmati County announced the census of 30 confirmed cases of coronavirus since the beginning of the second wave.
“Thanks to the preventive measures taken in the penitentiary institutions, only 30 cases of coronavirus have been recorded there, 26 of which have been cured, while the other four are currently being treated,” the communiqué reads. Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice denied reports in the media that “trials had been postponed due to the increase in coronavirus cases in prisons”.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Mahyaoui: Algeria will acquire a first batch of 5 to 10 million units of vaccine against COVID-19 early 2021
Algeria will initially acquire a batch of 5 to 10 million units of the vaccine against COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2021, according to Pr Ryad Mahyaoui, member of the Scientific Committee for monitoring the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic. Mahyaoui’s statement was reported by Echorouk News.
He specified that Algeria should place the order as early as next December, explaining that the first people to be vaccinated are those working in the health sector and then those suffering from chronic diseases. He recalled that the country’s highest authorities have pledged not to skimp on the means to acquire the vaccine and preserve the health of the citizen. Prof. Mehyaoui did not specify from which country the vaccine would be imported.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
COVID-19-teachers : A sit-in to claim the application of the sanitary protocol
Teachers affiliated to the National Union of Education and Training Personnel (UNPEF) held Wednesday a sit-in in Algiers to demand the “application” of the health protocol to protect individual and collective health against the risk of contamination with the new coronavirus after the threshold of 1000 cases of contamination in 24 hours in recent days was crossed.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 24, 2020
Coronavirus Algeria: Private schools “adhere to the sanitary protocol”.
After a month of classes resumed, several public schools are struggling to enforce the health protocol, for several reasons, including the lack of means of protection. What is the situation in schools privées ? The president of the National Association of Algerian Private Schools, Slim Aït Ameur, said in an interview with the daily El-Watan, that these schools “apply and double respect the instructions” of health protocol in force. “Enormous means have been put in place by schools to try to rigorously apply this health protocol,” he said.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
Coronavirus Algeria: Djerad instructs the walis to “increase the degree of vigilance”
According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s office, relayed by the official agency, Mr. Abdeleziz Djerad, chaired, this Friday, November 24, a meeting of the Walis of the republic, by videoconference, which addressed “the management of the health situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the drinking water supply (AEP), and urgent measures to be taken, as well as the evaluation of flood prevention system”.
Indeed, with regard to “the evaluation of the measures taken in the context of the fight against the coronavirus epidemic and the measures to be taken, in particular to strengthen the capacity of hospital establishments in terms of hospital beds and intensive care units”.
Thus, “the health situation in schools was examined, with a presentation of the specific monitoring system set up by the national education sector at central and local level, and an assessment of the needs for additional means of prevention, protection and disinfection”.
In addition, the Prime Minister instructed “the walis to increase the degree of vigilance in the face of the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic, while focusing efforts on improving the management of patients’ hospitalisation”, and to “ensure the mobilization of control brigades composed in particular of inspectors from the national education corps and school health personnel to carry out a permanent and rigorous control of the application of health protocols in each school and to ensure the equitable and continuous distribution of means of prevention and protection at the level of these establishments”.
Mr. Djerad also asked the walis “to involve parents’ associations in the monitoring of the health situation in schools, colleges and high schools in order to mobilise them more in the efforts to raise awareness and communication on the importance of respecting preventive measures against the spread of the epidemic in order to improve”.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
November 23, 2020
Coronavirus in schools: Benbouzid’s statements anger UNPEF
The National Union of Education and Training Personnel (UNPEF) decided to take a hard line, announcing a day of protest following statements by the Minister of Health accusing teachers of being the source of coronavirus transmission in schools.
“In exceptional circumstances and a turbulent start to the school year, causing panic among the authorities and the regional assemblies, which failed to provide the means of protection … and at a time when we were waiting for effective solutions from the authorities, these are the statements of the Minister of Health insinuating the responsibility of education personnel to transmit COVID-19 from the cafeterias to the schools,” reads the UNPEF communiqué.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
France: Algerian man lodges a complaint against the French State for “failure to assist a person in danger”.
According to the newspaper Le Progrès, an Abdeletif Ouchikh, an Algerian living in France, has decided to file a complaint against the French state because he believes that the measures taken by the authorities in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic are not effective. This decision comes after the death of his father due to his infection with COVID-19.
For more information (in French), please consult the following link.
