As Algeria becomes the second country in Africa, after Egypt to confirm a COVID-19 case, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting countries to step up their readiness and prepare to transition into response mode. On 25th February, the Algerian Government confirmed that an Italian male, who had entered the country recently had tested positive for COVID-19.
WHO representative to Algeria, Dr Francois Nguessan noted that although this was a public health event of international concern, it also demonstrated that “the mechanisms put in place succeeded in detecting this case of COVID-19”.
Algerian Health authorities report that epidemiological investigations into who else may have been in contact with the first patient began immediately. A toll-free number has been established in Algeria for concerned members of the public to call for information and advice, or to report any suspected cases.
WHO is sending a team of seven experts in fields including coordination, surveillance, rapid response and communications to Algeria. In addition, Algerian medical experts are attending a training on treating effectively COVID-19 patients with other medical professionals from 11 countries at the WHO Regional Office in Brazzaville.
The support to Algeria is built on the foundations laid to prepare for COVID-19 in Africa during the last month. Ever since it became clear that this new pathogen was a significant threat to global health security, WHO has identified 13 top priority countries in the region which due to their direct links or high volume of travel to China or their poor scores in International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities, need to increase their preparedness measures.
All these countries have received personal protective equipment and essential infection prevention and control equipment.
Forty-five experts have been deployed to 14 countries, with 20 more expert deployments being processed. WHO is sending COVID-19 testing kits to countries and as of today 29 countries have the capacity to test for coronavirus disease, compared to the beginning of February, when only two laboratories – one in Senegal and the other in South Africa – had diagnostic capacity. This a significant step forward in preparedness for the region.