Algeria on Tuesday confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus “Covid-19,” an Italian man who arrived in the country on February 17 with another person, reported Reuters. The person was confirmed as infected with coronavirus after medical analysis.
“There were two Italian men but only one had symptoms of the virus,” Algerian Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid said.
The minister added that the man has been put into isolation and is being given special medical treatment. However, he did not provide details on the age and gender of the Italian national.
Benbouzid said Algeria has adopted precautionary measures in airports, ports, and land border posts, including the installation of temperature cameras, to stop the spread of the deadly virus in the country.
In a Twitter post, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said that he had ordered medical authorities to take maximum precautions. He also urged Algerians to be careful about the information they shared online.
Algeria has become the second African country to report a Covid-19 case. The first case in Africa was reported in Egypt earlier this month.
The virus has now spread to more than 30 other countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, France, Russia, Spain, and India. There are more than 80,000 cases and 2,666 fatalities as of Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization. The coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 2,800 people in China alone, where the virus appeared first in December 2019.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the window of opportunity that Africa has had to prepare for the novel coronavirus is closing as the second case was confirmed in Algeria.
The WHO has identified Algeria and 12 other countries that are highly prone to the virus due to their direct links or a high volume of travel to China. The WHO said it will soon deploy a team of experts to Algeria to support health authorities.
