The passport is now required from anyone entering or leaving Algeria, as well as for entering sports facilities, cinemas, theaters, museums, and others. It also applies to popular baths across the country.
The vaccination passport was announced in a government statement on Saturday evening and went into effect on Sunday.
The government said the measure is primarily aimed at dealing with the high incidence of the delta mutant.
So far, only two cases of the Omicron mutant have been confirmed in Algeria, but the authorities are preparing for more. The government said that further measures could be taken in the coming days, depending on the development of the situation.
Official statistics show that Algeria has seen 6,230 deaths related to the virus, including seven cases last week, and 217,000 cases in total. But members of the government’s scientific committee acknowledged that the real numbers were much higher.
It is noteworthy that less than a quarter of the Algerian population only received a single dose of the vaccine.
According to statistics released last week by a member of the governmental scientific committee, Riad Mihaoui, only 10 million Algerians received a first dose of the vaccine out of a population of 45 million.
Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid warned earlier this month that “more than 13 million vaccines are at risk of expiring if they are not used quickly.”
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