ALGERIA – United States of America in collaboration with Algerian counterparts have assembled and donated a state-of-the-art field hospital in Algeria to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
The facility, which has been inaugurated by officials, will serve Algeria’s civilian population and is equipped with a negative pressure isolation system specifically designed to treat patients with infectious diseases.
In July, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Joey Hood announced the 35 bed US$2.6 million worth hospital in the United States’ commitment to sharing resources in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe.
This comes on top of vaccines through COVAX and the more than US$4 million in aid the United States has provided to Algeria since the beginning of the pandemic.
The unit is mobile and entirely self-contained, including for purposes of water and electricity. An experienced team can reassemble the field hospital in as little as three days.
Algeria is facing a hard time, just as many other African countries, trying to combat the pandemic. Currently, the country is relying on free oxygen tanks offered by a private company as the country battles rising cases and constrained by a patchy inoculation rollout.
The Delta variant caused 71% of total infections for July, according to the state research center Pasteur Institute.
According to Africa CDC ,29 countries are experiencing a more aggressive third wave than the previous second wave, and two countries – Algeria and Tunisia – are already seeing a fourth wave.
Adding insult to the injury, a number of wildfires are currently spreading in Algeria and Tunisia threatening lives of tens of thousands, while also damaging local ecosystems, infrastructures and livelihoods.
Algeria and Tunisia have been witnessing an increasing number of wildfires. The fires are linked to climate change, which is causing more extreme weather conditions, such as scorching temperatures and less rainfall.
In Algeria, the fires have been raging since Monday and are spreading to new areas. Since the pandemic began early last year, the North African country has reported a total of 187,258 cases, with 4,794 deaths.
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