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Algerian Health Minister Abderrahman Benbouzid on Saturday instructed the Central Pharmacy of Hospitals (PCH) to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical staff to fight the COVID-19 “as soon as possible,” official APS news agency reported.

“The situation generated by the pandemic is worrying,” the minister told reporters during an inspection visit to PCH headquarters in Algiers. “It is an emergency and a priority to make medical personnel safe with the necessary personal protective equipment.”

“The stocks of masks, protective glasses, coveralls with hood and other necessary products are sufficient for the moment,” he said. “We should start distributing these products as soon as possible to the establishments concerned.”

More than 1,700 medical staff in the country have been infected with the coronavirus, and about 40 of them have died from the deadly virus, said Abdelkrim Soukhal, a member of Algeria’s Scientific Committee monitoring the spread of COVID-19, on Thursday.

As of Saturday, Algeria has reported a total of 18,708 COVID-19 cases with 1,004 deaths.