Algeria has identified 1,197 new Covid-19 contaminations in the past 24 hours, a record of daily cases since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, according to the Ministry of Health.
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“The toll of the last 24 hours is 1,197 cases, including 15 deaths,” the ministry said in a statement.
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Since the start of the pandemic, Algeria, the most populous country in the Maghreb with its 44 million inhabitants, has officially recorded 151,103 cases including 3,910 deaths.
The previous record for daily cases was recorded in November 2020, with 1,133 cases.
After falling for several months, contamination again sharply increased from May, with the multiplication of the Delta and Alpha variants.
A few days ago, Mohamed Yousfi, head of an infectious disease department in Boufarik, near Algiers, told AFP that the resumption of contaminations was “alarming” and the hospitals “saturated”, denouncing the State immobility in the face of non-compliance with precautionary measures.
He called on citizens to get vaccinated. “We are just under 10%” of the vaccinated population, he said.
Algerian Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane himself tested positive for Covid-19 last week.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune chaired last week a meeting of the Scientific Committee to monitor the evolution of the pandemic during which were decided a “firm reactivation” of preventive measures and acceleration of the rate of vaccination.
A vaccination campaign was launched in the country more than two weeks ago, including in mosques.
The Ministry of Health wants to “vaccinate 60% of the population”, according to local media.
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