Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday ordered a ban on mass street protests demanding political reforms for more than a year, to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Algeria has so far reported five deaths and 60 confirmed cases of the virus.
On Monday, Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad said the country would suspend all sea and air travel between it and Europe from Thursday over the coronavirus.
Algeria will also suspend flights with African countries, including Senegal, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Coast Ivory and Burkina Faso from the same date, he added.
The protests erupted in February last year after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his bid to run for a fifth term in office. He relented to the pressure and stepped down in April, but the rallies have since evolved to demand the overhaul of the entire ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army’s withdrawal from politics.
Over the past year the protesters have changed the face of Algeria’s power structure, causing the fall of Bouteflika, and the arrest of dozens of leading figures including a once untouchable former intelligence chief.
However, while the new president has released people detained in the weekly protests, set up a commission to amend the constitution and offered talks to the opposition, much of the old ruling elite remains in place.
Tebboune was elected in December.
