[3] In response, the Algerian government ordered curfews, restricted gatherings, canceled public events, and issued stay-at-home orders between February and June.
[4] The pandemic disrupted anti-government protests, which largely halted in 2020 and resumed in 2021.
[8] On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.
[13][11] Algerians living in Wuhan were repatriated in early February.
[14] On February 12, the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform announced it was preparing a new emergency plan for handling an outbreak of the virus.