Cairo, Feb 26 (Agency) The first two cases of the UK strain of the coronavirus have been detected in Algeria, the Health Ministry’s Pasteur Institute said. “On February 19, two cases of the UK strain of the coronavirus were detected via PCR tests,” the institute said on Thursday in a statement, obtained by Sputnik.
One of the patients has arrived from France to visit the funeral of his father while the other one has been hospitalized in the northern Algerian city of Cheraga. The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 112.86 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.5 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University. Algeria has confirmed more than 112,000 COVID-19 cases so far, with about 3,000 fatalities.