Algeria's COVID-19 Hotline Props Up Rapid Response

Algiers — Leaning over desks with hands-free headsets hugging veils or bare heads, a team of doctors answers seemingly endless phone calls. Hundreds of worried callers ring every day to seek advice on how to stay safe, understand the symptoms or find out if the flu they are battling is indeed the new COVID-19.

Algeria, with the second-highest COVID-19 cases in Africa, set up a call centre in the capital Algiers on 26 February, a day after it confirmed the first case of the virus, to boost early detection and help contain wider spread of the disease. Around 10 days after being established, more than 46 000 people had called the centre's 24-hour toll-free number.

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