A curfew was reinstated Thursday evening October 1 in the coastal regions of Sousse and Monastir, in eastern Tunisia, in an attempt to curb the outbreak of coronavirus cases, which threatens to saturate Tunisian hospitals.
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Calls for stricter prevention measures have multiplied and health professionals have sounded the alarm, as the number of people in intensive care has reached 87 out of 130 beds dedicated to patients with Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health.
From Thursday and for two weeks, traffic is prohibited in the Sousse region, in the center-east, from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m., the governor said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Parties and gatherings in public spaces are prohibited, as well as hookahs in cafes, said this press release.
In the neighboring region of Monastir, the curfew is established from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for two weeks also, according to a statement from the governor of this region.
Weekly markets will remain closed for two weeks, as will party halls, sports halls and nightclubs.
Wearing a mask will be compulsory on public transport.
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Tunisia is currently registering around a thousand new confirmed cases per day, against a few dozen at the height of the first wave in the spring, and the country has a total of more than 18,000 identified patients.
The deaths, reaching 265 according to a report released Wednesday, have been multiplied by more than five since the lifting of restrictions and the opening of borders at the end of June.
The obligation to wear the mask in frequented public places, imposed in early August, has long remained a dead letter.
Testimonies from doctors unable to find a place to hospitalize a patient have appeared on social networks in recent days, while some nurses went on strike Thursday to demand protective equipment and preventive measures.
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Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, who came to power in September, ruled out new confinement last week, calling for compliance with barrier gestures.
The confinement imposed for three months in the spring in Tunisia hit the many informal workers hard and put a stop to an already fragile economy.
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