Algeria says to start anti-coronavirus vaccination in January 2021

ALGIERS, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Algeria is to start anti-COVID-19 vaccination in January 2021, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Sunday.

"I ordered prime minister to hold a meeting with the scientific committee in charge of monitoring the pandemic development, in a bid to select the best anti-COVID-19 vaccine ahead of starting the vaccination operation in January 2021," Tebboune said in a statement on his official Twitter account.

Last week, Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid told reporters that the recommended coronavirus vaccine "will be free for all" in the country.

A total of 422 new COVID-19 cases, 391 recoveries and seven deaths were reported over the past 24 hours in Algeria, the spokesman of the committee Djamel Fourar announced in his daily briefing on Sunday.

The tally of confirmed cases hit 95,203, as death toll stood at 2,666 and 63,260 patients have been discharged from hospitals, Fourar noted.