ALGIERS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Friday warned to tighten lockdown measures and shutdown businesses in case infections from the novel coronavirus continue to escalate.

"The government has responded to requests from the merchants' union to re-open businesses to ease economic crisis, but if that decision would endanger the lives of citizens, we will be forced to close everything again and resort to more rigorous lockdown measures," Tebboune told a group of reporters in his office in Algiers.

On Friday, Algerian health authorities reported a total of 4,151 infection case, 453 fatalities and 1,821 recoveries.

Last week, the government decided to relax the lockdown measures, tolerating several businesses to re-open, in a bid to ease the social and economic impact of the pandemic.