China’s international television network CGTN is experimenting with new ways to promote China’s COVID-19 medical deployment in Africa. The mission that’s now underway in Algeria, with 20 medical professionals who will be there for two weeks, is being covered at every stage of the process and now featured on a new Facebook page that CGTN set up to showcase their activities.

CGTN is clearly trying something new. This coverage is far more comprehensive than what they’ve done in other similar medical deployments. But what’s interesting is that, when you watch all of the videos, there’s not a lot of information provided as to what the team is actually doing and how they’re meaningfully contributing to Algeria’s anti-pandemic effort. There’s a lot of walking around and meeting with local stakeholders but no indication as to what kind of advice and insights the Chinese team is providing their hosts in Algiers.