The patient is an Italian citizen who arrived in the country on February 17 and has been placed in isolation, the ministry said.

https://africatimes.com/2020/02/25/algerian-health-minister-confirms-first-covid-19-case/

Algerian health minister confirms first COVID-19 case

By AT editor - 25 February 2020 at 9:49 pm

 

Algeria has confirmed the first case of coronavirus within its borders according to health minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid, who announced the finding to the nation on state-owned ENTV Tuesday evening.

The patient is an Italian citizen who arrived in the country on February 17 and has been placed in isolation, the ministry said.

It’s just the second case confirmed on the African continent, but it comes as the COVID-19 virus has spread from Asia to many new nations across Europe and the Middle East.

Off the coast of Morocco on Gran Canaria, President Ángel Víctor Torres and Teresa Cruz Oval, the health minister, held an emergency meeting Tuesday to deal with the case of another Italian traveler. He is a doctor who tested positive after suspecting he was ill with the virus and seeking medical attention.

That patient and a female companion who also tested positive for the coronavirus, believed to be his spouse, are being treated at Our Lady of La Candelaria Hospital, the government said.