Covid-19: Tunisia records highest mortality rate in Africa

Since the beginning of the global health crisis, Tunisia the country that holds 11.9 million people, has recorded 15 861 deaths related to Covid-19. This stands for 1 333 deaths per 1 million inhabitants. It is the highest mortality rate in Africa.

On 6 July 2021, Tunisia broke a record number of daily contaminations. Out of 27 198 tests performed, 9 823 were found positive, which represents 36.17%. With 473 229 cases recorded, Tunisia is the third country on the continent in terms of contaminations.

This situation paralyzes the health sector with public hospitals being overwhelmed by the influx of patients.

In order to contain the epidemic and assist the sick, a general lockdown during weekends has been implemented in addition to the measures already in force (partial lockdown, curfew, etc.). Field hospitals are also being set up in the regions most affected by the epidemic.

To date, 5.1% of the Tunisian population has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, while only 12% of the people have received a first jab. Like other African countries, Tunisia has limited access to Covid-19 vaccines and notes a clear inefficiency of the Covax system.

To deal with this situation, the government agreed on 6 July 2021, to buy 3 million doses of Janssen vaccine (the only single-dose vaccine) directly from Johnson & Johnson laboratories.