Algeria accusing WHO of “manipulating” figures of infected people

The Algerian health authorities have, as part of the management of coronavirus disease, pointed an accusing finger at the World Health Organization. So what happened?

While the head of the World Health Organization for Africa, had expressed, Thursday 11 June, of her concern about the acceleration of the number of cases of contamination in Africa, especially in Algeria, the Scientific Committee for the monitoring of Coronavirus disease has made clarifications and sounded the burden.

Manipulated figures

The WHO director for the Africa region, who said she feared “that we should probably live with a steady increase in the region”, therefore inviting the affected African countries, including Algeria, to take strict sanitary measures, insisted that these countries are high-risk areas where the virus could spread further.

Following the departure of Matshido Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, expressing concern about the acceleration of the number of cases of Covid-19 contamination in Algeria, the Scientific Committee, meeting on Saturday 13 June with the head of state of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accused the WHO official of having “manipulated” the figures of the epidemic in Algeria.

Five countries

Matshido Moeti, in her report published Thursday, 11 June, predicted a constant increase in cases of contamination of Covid-19 on the continent, specifying that 70% of deaths in Africa were concentrated in five countries, in particular South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, and Sudan.

In a press release, the Algerian Scientific Committee, which denies the statistics put forward by the regional director of the WHO, accuses her of “going beyond prerogatives” and reveals: “She manipulated the daily data concerning the cases of contamination in Algeria”. An output that still calls into question the data published by the WHO.

Guinea

In early June, Dr. Triphonie Nkurunziza, former Burundian minister and resident representative of the World Health Organization in Equatorial Guinea is accused by the Equatorial Guinean authorities of falsifying the data of people infected with the Coronavirus, whose number has been inflated.

This had prompted the authorities to urge her to leave the country as soon as possible while asking the WHO to find a replacement.