Algiers - Algeria reported nine new confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing to 17 the total number of people tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said.
The cases include sixteen cases are from the same family in the Blida province, some 30 km south of the capital Algiers, and an Italian man.
Meanwhile in Italy. fraudsters have taken advantage of
the coronavirus crisis to ramp up prices of hygiene products or
try to sell inappropriate materials, wrongly claiming they would
provide protection from the disease, police said on Wednesday.
Italy is battling the worst European outbreak of the virus
which has so far killed more than 100 people here, mainly in the
north of the country, and infected more than 3,000 people.
Police said they had placed under investigation 36 people
who had tried to take advantage of the widespread anxiety by
misselling products online. Some 14 of them, considered the
worst offenders, risked up to two years in jail for fraud.
"A kit that included just two masks, two pairs of gloves and
a PVC suit was sold for 400 euros ($445)," Giovanni Lupi, who
led the investigation in Turin, told Reuters.
He said on other occasions people had advertised products,
such as herbal supplements, promising without any evidence that
they would offer protection against the disease.
Amongst those under investigation were auto parts dealers,
farmers, door-to-door salesmen who people who had no prior sales
experience.
Costs of hygiene products have risen steeply in Italy since
the crisis first came to light on Feb 20., with pharmacies and
stores rapidly selling out of masks and gels.
Police last month warned that some criminals were disguising
themselves as health inspectors and using fake identity papers
to gain access to people's houses to steal money or other
valuables.