120 Algeria health workers have died from virus: ministry

A worker wearing a protective suit disinfects a bus station, following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Algiers, Algeria March 16, 2020. [Ramzi Boudina, Reuters]

Algeria's frontline health workers have lost 120 colleagues to the novel coronavirus pandemic among more than 9,000 who have caught the disease, the health ministry said Monday.

"So far a total of 120 health staff have died and 9,146 others have been infected by the virus" in the North African country, said the spokesman of the government's coronavirus scientists' panel Djamel Fourar.

With the country facing a severe second wave of infections, several doctors have gone public with calls for the population to respect health protocols and avoid going out except when necessary.

Algeria is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa, with almost 76,000 infections since its first registered case on February 25, with over 2,000 deaths, according to official statistics.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been receiving treatment for the virus in Germany since October 28.

This month the government tightened movement restrictions and extended a night-time curfew.

It also imposed weekend halts on public transport and a two-week shutdown of sports facilities and cultural centres.

All gatherings have been banned and the borders closed since March 17.