November 16 – 22, 2020 | Algeria Press Review

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Photo: John S. on Flickr

November 22, 2020

National Security launches an awareness campaign in three wilayas

The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) launched, on Sunday, an awareness campaign on the ground conducted by the security services of the wilayas of Algiers, Oran and Constantine in order to strengthen the momentum of national solidarity and efforts to fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of this campaign “10,000 protective masks are being distributed to citizens in streets, neighbourhoods, public places, points of sale and shops that supply citizens with consumer products, as well as security checkpoints”, the press release added, adding that these first outings have found “a very favourable response from citizens”.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.


November 21, 2020

Here is the plan to avoid the total closure of schools

Indeed, in order to alleviate the breathlessness of teachers, the Ministry of Education has unveiled exceptional plans for the programming of courses, for all levels, to avoid the total closure of schools in Algeria.

Indeed, in order to limit the mixing of pupils, each class was divided into at least two groups.

As for middle school, it was agreed for grades 1 and 2 to limit the number of hours per week to 4 hours instead of 5 hours per week for the subjects: Arabic, French, English and Mathematics.

For the third year, the subjects of French, Arabic and Mathematics have been reduced by half an hour. Thus, they will be scheduled 4 hours per week, as for the English subject it will be 3 hours per week. In addition, for the 4th year of the junior cycle, the hourly volume has been softened for only three subjects.

For example, the Ministry of Education has decided to eliminate a full hour of Arabic classes; while half an hour of French classes has been eliminated, so it will be 4 hours per week for both subjects. The English subject will be scheduled for 3 hours a week.       

Indeed, the Ministry of Education has decided to schedule a physical education and sports class every fortnight for each group in order to avoid any gathering and to comply with preventive measures.

With regard to the subjects (physical and natural sciences); teachers should adopt simple experimental methods to conduct their experiments in front of the pupils; using the guide to work with digital resources, reports the same source.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

School closures “not on the agenda”, contacts underway for the acquisition of the vaccine

The Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Djerad, said Saturday from Tipasa that the closure of schools due to the spread of the pandemic of the new coronavirus “is not on the agenda at present”, noting that contacts are underway with foreign laboratories for the acquisition of the vaccine against COVID-19.

“In the event that positive cases are recorded in schools, each case will be treated separately. However, the closure of schools is not currently on the agenda,” Mr. Djerad said in a statement to the press at the kick-off from the Boukerdane dam (Tipasa) of the national reforestation campaign on the occasion of National Tree Day, stressing that “the state is fulfilling its duties and will continue to do so to its citizens.

Djerad made a point of recalling that “Algeria is currently establishing contacts with several laboratories to acquire the expected vaccine against the new coronavirus,” recalling that “all Algerian scientists, doctors and expertise recognized worldwide are associated with these negotiations to ensure that the use of this vaccine will not cause any complications” on health.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.


November 20, 2020

Clandestine Emigration: Return of 24 Senegalese migrants stranded in Algeria

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has facilitated the voluntary return of 92 migrants blocked for several months in Algeria. Among them, says L’As, there are 24 Senegalese migrants, 5 Gambians and 63 Guineans.

According to the newspaper, the movements were organised within the framework of the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration of Migrants Programme under the joint EU-IOM initiative. The candidates for emigration were all welcomed and taken care of upon their arrival before joining their respective families.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Unified Friday Preaching through the country’s mosques to raise awareness

The imams of all the mosques in the country devoted their Friday sermon to sensitize the faithful to the necessary preservation of human life by respecting the barrier measures recommended in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, stressing the importance of mutual aid to overcome the crisis that Algeria is going through like other countries.

n this context, the Imam of the Ibn Badis Mosque in Kouba (Algiers) stressed in his preaching that “the preservation of the benefit of health is a duty incumbent on all without exception”. “It is our duty to protect ourselves and preserve our health and that of others by not taking lightly what could be fatal to us,” the imam told the faithful.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.


November 19, 2020

Algerians rush to tests that are not always available

Two weeks after the disputed referendum, Algeria records an explosion in the number of COVID-19 cases.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Algeria will procure the vaccine that will meet all the conditions

The Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Abderrahmane Benbouzid, assured Thursday that Algeria will procure the vaccine against COVD-19 which will meet all the conditions “regardless of its price”. Mr. Benbouzid said that Algeria “will not import any vaccine whose safety and efficacy are not assured in the producing country, in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune”.

In this context, the first person in charge of the sector indicated that he had received ambassadors and heads of laboratories from the countries producing the COVID-19 vaccine in order to study the import modalities of this vaccine, which will be subject to the recommendations of the Scientific Committee for Monitoring the Evolution of the Coronavirus Pandemic “regardless of its price”, because, he said, “protecting the health of citizens is priceless”.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

News on the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine

In a statement on Friday on Echo of Moscow radio, the WHO representative in Russia, Milta Vinovich, said Russia had applied for a registration certificate for the Sputnik V vaccine. “The World Health Organisation has not yet spoken or announced a vaccine because vaccines are subject to an evaluation system (…) this is practically one of the conditions for registration and is done in the event of an epidemic,” she explained.

“We now know that Russia has applied for a registration certificate for its ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine in Geneva, where the World Health Organization has its headquarters,” added the WHO representative. Milta Vinovich pointed out that all vaccines are subject to such registration conditions, starting with the country of origin, which is already done.

It should be remembered that Russia had announced that the efficacy of its Sputnik-V vaccine is 92%, a few days before Moderna announced an efficacy of more than 94%.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Cancelled flights, non-refunded tickets … Air Algérie targeted by a trade union

Many airlines refuse to reimburse millions of passengers for flights cancelled because of COVID-19. This problem arises in particular with the Algerian national airline company Air Algérie, which has not yet reimbursed all the airline tickets to its customers of the cancelled flights. These companies offered only credit notes, whereas the European Union imposes the possibility of reimbursement; the French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir has collected more than 14,000 testimonies from angry travellers. And decided to summon 20 airlines, including Air Algérie, to appear before the Paris court on 15 May.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.


November 18, 2020

Fight against coronavirus: new instructions from Djerad

The Prime Minister, Abdeleziz Djerad, chaired a government meeting by videoconference on Friday 18 November.

At the end of the government meeting, Minister Djerad gave instructions to the Ministers of National Education and Health.

According to a communiqué from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Minister of Justice has instructed the ministers to ensure the intensification of operations to control the respect of sanitary protocol set up at the level of public and private schools, within the framework of the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

The Prime Minister also insisted on the need to organise, on a permanent basis, visits by school health teams to ensure the health of pupils, teachers and staff in schools, colleges and high schools.

In addition, Minister Djerad recalled President Tebboune’s directives on the need for Algeria to acquire as soon as possible the coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is put on the market.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

The MJS introduces new prevention measures

League 1 football clubs and elite athletes, preparing for the next major international events, including the 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, are the only ones to have been spared the latest restrictive measures, adopted by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MJS), as part of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the various federations and associations under its supervision, the MJS has indeed requested “a closure for 15 days” of all sports halls, playgrounds, and youth centres, to avoid any risk of spreading COVID-19. The Ministry also banned all forms of gatherings at the level of the authorities, including meetings of an organisational nature.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Algerian air absent from the ranking of the safest airline companies

Indeed, the safe travel barometer has established a ranking of the safest airlines, taking into account several criteria that guarantee the traveller a flight where measures against coronavirus (COVID-19) are respected. The site compared the frequency of aircraft disinfection at each airline.

However, the national airline Air Algérie is not included in this classification, which also took into account other criteria such as the temperature control of passengers, the wearing of masks by flight personnel, the availability of masks offered by the company, and finally, whether the company required the filling of a health form.

Thus, in the top 3 of this ranking, the companies of the golf countries are present. Emirates took first place with a score of 4.4. Followed by the Emirates airline company Etihad Airways, while Qatar Airways occupies third place in the ranking.

In the rest of the ranking, we find Air France in 6th place, overtaken by Singapore Airlines in 4th place, and the Indian airline Vistara in 5th place. For the rest of the ranking, 7th place is occupied by the American airline Delta Airlines, followed in 8th place by Air China.

The German airline Lufthansa is ranked 9th, and finally 10th place is taken by the Spanish airline Iberia. All of these top 10 airlines disinfect their planes after every flight.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Benbahmed reassures about the availability of medical oxygen

The minister for the pharmaceutical industry, Lotfi Benbahmed, said today that reports of a lack of oxygen in hospitals across the country are “unfounded”, stressing that it is available in sufficient quantities so far.

In a statement made to Channel 1 of the national radio Lotfi Benbahmed replied: “The quantity produced cumulatively the three operators in the matter offer a quantity until now satisfactory, Linde g’Gaz, Air Liquide and Calgaz Algeria, produce 320 000 litres of oxygen every day”, estimating that this vital material is available in sufficient quantity in hospitals and health structures for the reception of severe cases contaminated by the coronavirus (COVID-19).

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.

Confirmation of COVID-19 vaccine: Dr Benguourgoura points out the lack of resources at the Institut Pasteur

Questioned on the question of controlling the therapeutic efficacy of the Pzifer vaccine once it has been received by Algeria, the head of the department for the control of biological products at the Pasteur Institute affirmed that this would pose a problem, justifying his remarks by saying, “the institute has the human skills to ensure the quality control of vaccines, but it does not have certain indispensable materials, notably reagents, which are ‘imported in their entirety” .

In the same context, the same person in charge, revealed during her appearance on the programme “the guest of the editorial staff” on Channel 3 of the Algerian Radio, that her organisation does not have all the means to ensure a good quality of control to confirm the conformity of imported healthcare products, stating that the Institut Pasteur laboratory does not currently meet all the clauses, in order to ensure the best control of the Pzifer vaccine”.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.


November 16, 2020

COVID-19: 156 civil defence agents contaminated in Médéa

In the wilaya of Medea, the number of civil defence agents contaminated by COVID-19 has risen to 156 infected people, according to the latest report.

For more information (in French), please consult the following link.