The North African country recorded 9,823 coronavirus cases and 134 deaths on Tuesday, the worst single-day death toll caused by the virus.

The Ministry of Health said on Thursday that Tunisia’s health system “collapsed” under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling the virus’s impact on the country “catastrophic”.

On Tuesday alone, Tunisia recorded 9,823 cases and 134 deaths, the worst single-day death toll caused by the virus. In the past two weeks, there has been an influx of patients in hospitals in this North African country.

This country of 12 million people has suffered nearly 465,000 cases and 15,735 deaths.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Nisaf Ben Alaya (Nisaf Ben Alaya) said: “We are in a catastrophic situation… the health system has collapsed, and we can only find it difficult to find beds in hospitals.”

“We are working hard to provide oxygen… the doctors are suffering from unprecedented fatigue,” she said, adding that “the ship is sinking” and calling on all Tunisians to unite in the fight against the epidemic.

“If you don’t unite, your health will get worse,” she added.

As there were not enough staff to organize their transfer to the overcrowded morgue, the bodies of some COVID victims were left in rooms adjacent to other patients for up to 24 hours.

Tunisian medical staff caring for patients amid a surge of new COVID-19 infections in Kairouan city [Fethi Belaid/AFP]

The Ministry of Health’s Facebook page stated that the special field hospitals established in recent months are no longer enough.

Since June 20, as the number of new coronary pneumonia cases has soared, the authorities have imposed a complete blockade on six regions of Tunisia, including Kairouan.

Since last week, the capital, Tunisia, has been in a state of partial lockdown, and it has been blocked on weekends from July 10 to prevent crowded beaches.

In Tunisia as a whole, only 4% of the population received the full two-dose vaccine.

Africa cases surge

Since the start of the third wave of outbreaks on the African continent in May, the number of coronavirus cases in Africa has been on the rise.

In the week ending July 4, the African continent recorded more than 251,000 new COVID-19 cases, an increase of 20% from the previous week and a 12% increase from the previous peak in January.

Sixteen African countries are now seeing a comeback of the virus, and 10 of them have detected the more infectious Delta strain.

South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa. Stimulated by the Delta mutation, the number of new infections per day reached a record high of 26,000 over the weekend.

The vaccination rate remains sluggish, with only 16 million people (2% of the African population) fully vaccinated.