China a ‘true friend’ as Algeria battles coronavirus outbreak
- China has been helping other countries fight the disease, offering masks, experts and equipment
- China’s ties with Algeria go back decades; Chinese nationals make up the largest group of expatriates in the North African country
As adversity strikes in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, Algeria has found a helping hand in China, an old friend and the top exporter to Africa’s largest country.
An Air Algerie plane arrived in the capital Algiers from Beijing on March 27 carrying a 13-member Chinese medical team and equipment, including respirators, worth around US$450,000.
The supplies were donated by the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) on behalf of Beijing to help Algeria battle its Covid-19 outbreak.
With 1,251 officially declared cases, including 130 deaths, Algeria is worse hit than its North African neighbours Tunisia and Morocco, and its health sector is in dire need of improvement.
The government announced Saturday it was extending its night-time curfew – until now in place only in the capital and 13 of Algeria’s 48 provinces – across the whole country.
China, where the novel coronavirus was first detected in December, has been helping other countries fight the disease, offering masks, experts and equipment.