- Title: Berber villages in Algeria self-organise to fight COVID-19
- Date: 19th August 2021
- Summary: AIT BOUADA VILLAGE, TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VILLAGERS AT AIT BOUADA CLINIC AIT BOUADA CLINIC SIGN VARIOUS OF MASKED WOMEN SITTING IN THE CLINIC YARD DOCTOR WEARING PROTECTIVE SUIT TALKING TO AIT BOUADA RESIDENT AND CLINIC PATIENT, FATIMA, IN CONSULTATION ROOM DOCTOR EXAMINING FATIMA / MEASURING HER TEMPERATURE DOCTORS TALKING TO FATIMA (SOUNDBITE) (Tamazight) AIT BOUADA RESIDENT AND CLINIC PATIENT, FATIMA, SAYING : "It has been a week since I haven't felt good, so I decided to go to the doctor, to see if it isn't a second infection of COVID-19. I already got COVID-19 and it wasn't hard. Now we are afraid because there are many cases. I came (to the see doctors) on Wednesday, they weren't working, so I came back today." VARIOUS OF FATIMA TALKING TO DOCTORS (SOUNDBITE) (French) VOLUNTEER DOCTOR, ALIOUA, SAYING: "We preferred to see patients in the outskirts, in the villages, to decrease pressure on hospitals, and especially to have a kind of lockdown, to avoid patients going to other clinics or hospitals. We prefer to examine them in the villages." VILLAGE RESIDENT WALKING INTO CLINIC AIT BOUADA RESIDENT AND CLINIC PATIENT, ADJIA TALKING TO DOCTOR (SOUNDBITE) (Tamazight) AIT BOUADA RESIDENT AND CLINIC PATIENT, ADJIA, SAYING (SHOT ENDING ON ADJIA SPEAKING TO DOCTOR): "It's better for me to see a doctor, and if I have to do tests a second time I will, to protect myself. I hope we will get rid of it (coronavirus) soon. We pray for God to help us." ALIOUA CHECKING PATIENT'S OXYGEN LEVEL OXIMETER ON PATIENT'S FINGER / VOLUNTEER DOCTOR, ALIOUA, CHECKING PATIENT'S OXYGEN LEVELS AND SAYING (French): "It's at 66, and this is the first time she comes for a checkup. She needs oxygen therapy. I will see if we give her an oxygen mask. If not, I would send her to the hospital but I know she will refuse" / ALIOUA TALKING TO PATIENT MAN CARRYING OXYGEN CYLINDER INTO CLINIC ROOM VARIOUS OF DOCTORS GIVING PATIENT OXYGEN (SOUNDBITE) (French) VOLUNTEER DOCTOR, HAKIMA BENMELLAT, SAYING: "I am here to help villagers. Hospitals are saturated. There is a lack of oxygen. And there is fear. So we improved the clinic with people's donations." MEDICAL WORKERS INSTALLING OXYGEN CYLINDER AMBULANCE MOVING (SOUNDBITE) (French) VOLUNTEER, HAKIM, SAYING (WHILE SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ON OXYGEN TANK): "We are rescuing a patient who needs oxygen. We brought him a cylinder of oxygen. We gave him a five-liter oxygen concentrator that was not enough, so we brought him this cylinder that can reach 30 litres." VOLUNTEERS CARRYING OXYGEN CYLINDER INTO PATIENT'S BUILDING IFGHA VILLAGE, TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CAR ARRIVING IN VILLAGE SECURITY AGENT CLOSING VILLAGE BARRIER BARRIER WITH STOP SIGN VOLUNTEER TAKING DRIVER'S TEMPERATURE / ANOTHER VOLUNTEER DISINFECTING THE CAR VOLUNTEER TAKING PASSENGER'S TEMPERATURE (SOUNDBITE) (French) VILLAGE RESIDENT, HAMID, SAYING: "It's good for everyone. We have to protect each other and be aware of COVID(-19). It's a good thing for the village, its security, and citizens of course." VOLUNTEER HANGING BANNER READING (French): "Stop, lockdown in the village" VOLUNTEER, OUANJLI KARIM, TAKING DRIVER'S TEMPERATURE AND GIVING HIM A MASK WHILE SAYING (French): "Temperature is 36.2. Yes, he can go inside. Thank God he isn't sick. Thank you." / DRIVER DRIVING INTO VILLAGE VOLUNTEER TAKING MOTORBIKE DRIVER'S TEMPERATURE STOP SIGN / BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (French) VILLAGE RESIDENT, ALI NARAOUT, SAYING: "You know that COVID(-19) doesn't just stay in the village, it is transmitted from one village to another, from one municipality to the next. The initiative taken here is to avoid the transmission of the virus inside the village. The village is under lockdown and we try our best to meet the needs of its population." VARIOUS OF VILLAGE ENTRY POINT STOP SIGN / MAN GUARDING ENTRANCE
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2021 10:51
- Keywords: Berber Coronavirus Delta variant Health Lockdown Tizi Ouzou Villages Volunteers
- Location: TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA
- City: TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Africa,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQY3YON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Lowering down a street barrier painted in red and white, local men check people's temperature before allowing them into the Berber village of Ifigha, in the hope to contain the spread of the Delta variant currently causing a surge of infections in Algeria.
Ifigha, like some other Berber villages near the north-central city of Tizi Ouzou, decided to go under a self-imposed lockdown and to boost the efforts of medical volunteers to limit infections and help ailing residents.
Some doctors at the Ait Bouada village also decided to treat patients in their respective villages, rather than have them move across cities.
"We preferred to see patients in the outskirts, in the villages, to decrease pressure on hospitals, and especially to have a kind of lockdown," said volunteer doctor Alioua.
If a resident is diagnosed with COVID-19, local volunteers provide support by sending over food and oxygen cylinders when necessary.
"We are rescuing a patient who needs oxygen," said Hakim, a volunteer carrying an oxygen cylinder up to a patient's apartment.
The Delta variant has caused a dramatic spike in infections throughout Algeria, with variant infections making up more than 70 percent of July cases, according to the public Pasteur Institute of Algeria.
Despite raging wildfires in the region's nearby forested areas, villages of Tizi Ouzou have kept up lockdown measures and continued volunteer work.
Algeria has so far reported 187,603 coronavirus cases, including 4,822 deaths.
(Production: Abdelaziz Boumzar, Thawab Herzallah, Nadeen Ebrahim) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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