The COVID-19 pandemic in Tunisia is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a No ...

). The disease was confirmed to have reached

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

on 2 March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

(WHO) confirmed that a

novel coronavirus Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a provisional name given to coronaviruses of medical significance before a permanent name is decided upon. Although coronaviruses are endemic in humans and infections normally mild, such as the common cold (caused b ...

was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Model-based simulations for Tunisia indicate that the 95%

confidence interval In frequentist statistics, a confidence interval (CI) is a range of estimates for an unknown parameter. A confidence interval is computed at a designated ''confidence level''; the 95% confidence level is most common, but other levels, such as ...

for the time-varying reproduction number ''R_t'' was higher than 1.0 from July to October 2020.

Timeline

March 2020

* Tunisia confirmed its first case on 2 March 2020, a 40-year-old Tunisian man from

Gafsa Gafsa ( aeb, ڨفصة '; ar, قفصة qafṣah), originally called Capsa in Latin, is the capital of Gafsa Governorate of Tunisia. It lends its Latin name to the Mesolithic Capsian culture. With a population of 111,170, Gafsa is the ninth- ...

returning from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. * In addition, 74 suspected cases in Gafsa have been placed under home confinement. Two of the suspected cases violated the confinement measures, and the local health directorate decided to take legal action against them. * In March there were 394 confirmed cases, 10 deaths and 3 recovered patients. The number of active cases at the end of the month was 381.

April to June 2020

* There were 600 new cases in April, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 994. The death toll increased to 41. The number of recovered patients grew to 305. There were 648 active cases at the end of the month. * On 10 May 2020, Tunisia recorded zero new coronavirus cases for the first time since early March. * During May the number of confirmed cases grew by 83 to 1077. There were seven more fatalities, bringing the death toll to 48. The number of recovered patients rose to 960, leaving 69 active cases at the end of the month. * In June there were 97 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1174. Two more patients died, raising the death toll to 50. The number of recovered patients grew to 1031, leaving 93 active cases at the end of the month.

July to September 2020

* On 17 July, the Ministry of Public Health announced that 9 new cases tested positive as of 16 July, including 4 cases of local contamination, raising the total to 1336 confirmed cases. * By the end of the month, the number of confirmed cases had risen to 1535, an increase by 361 in July. The death toll remained unchanged. The number of recovered patients grew to 1195, leaving 290 active cases by the end of the month. * There were 2,268 new cases in August, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 3,803. The death toll rose to 77. There were 2,153 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 13,602 new cases in September, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 17,405. The death toll more than tripled to 246.

October to December 2020

* There were 42,408 new cases in October, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 59,813. The death toll more than quadrupled to 1,317. There were 53,464 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 36,956 new cases in November, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 96,769. The death toll more than doubled to 3,260. The number of recovered patients increased to 70,851, leaving 22,658 active cases at the end of the month. * Health Minister Faouzi Madhi extended the curfew until January 15 to cover the New Year's holiday and urging people not to hold end-of-year festivities or travel around the country. The country has seen about 50 COVID deaths per day over the last few months. Although Tunisia has not registered any cases of the new virus variant identified in the U.K., the country has suspended all flights with Britain,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, and Australia. * There were 42,371 new cases in December, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 139,140. The death toll rose to 4,676. The number of recovered patients increased to 105,364, leaving 29,100 active cases at the end of the month.

January to March 2021

* The government extended its health curfew and banned demonstrations on 23 January. Tunisia reported 103 virus-related deaths on 21 January, the highest figure to date in the country, among the highest rates in Africa. Travel between regions was banned, bars and restaurants were closed except for take-out food, and university classes were transferred online. About 1,000 people have been arrested since the

2021 Tunisian protests The 2021 Tunisian protests are a series of protests that started on 15 January 2021. Thousand of people rioted in cities and towns across Tunisia, which saw looting and arson as well as mass deployment of police and army in several cities and th ...

began a week ago. * There were 70,905 new cases in January, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 210,045. The death toll rose to 6,802. The number of recovered patients increased to 162,223, leaving 41,020 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 23,624 new cases in February, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 233,669. The death toll rose to 8,001. The number of recovered patients increased to 198,398, leaving 27,270 active cases at the end of the month. * On 2 March, the first cases of lineage

B.1.1.7 The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It was estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (with most estimates occupying the middle to higher end of this range). It was first detecte ...

(the 'UK variant') were reported in Tunisia. * On 17 March, Tunisia received 93,600 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through COVAX. * There were 20,349 new cases in March, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 254,018. The death toll rose to 8,812. The number of recovered patients increased to 217,293, leaving 27,913 active cases at the end of the month.

April to June 2021

* In April 2021, Tunisia extended a curfew from April 9 to April 30 from 7pm to 5 am and banned all public and private gatherings. * There were 55,101 new cases in April, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 309,119. The death toll rose to 10,722. The number of recovered patients increased to 259,957, leaving 38,440 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 36,355 new cases in May, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 345,474. The death toll rose to 12,654. The number of recovered patients increased to 303,467, leaving 29,353 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 74,629 new cases in June, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 420,103. The death toll rose to 14,959. The number of recovered patients increased to 354,441, leaving 50,703 active cases at the end of the month. From 13 March to 29 June, 1,821,431 vaccine doses had been administered and 548,997 persons fully vaccinated.

July to September 2021

* On 21 July, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi fired Faouzi Mehdi as its health minister and appointed Mohamed Trabelsi as caretaker health minister amid a collapse of the healthcare system due to the increase of COVID-19 cases. There were 175,429 new cases in July, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 595,532. The death toll rose to 20,067. The number of recovered patients increased to 516,831, leaving 58,634 active cases at the end of the month. * On 6 August,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

announced that it will begin to deliver for free 1.3 million COVID-19 vaccines to four countries to help tackle the pandemic. The donation to Tunisia consists of 425,000 doses. * There were 68,502 new cases in August, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 664,034. The death toll rose to 23,451. The number of recovered patients increased to 612,150, leaving 26,433 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 43,156 new cases in September, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 707,190. The death toll rose to 24,890. The number of recovered patients increased to 675,942, leaving 6,358 active cases at the end of the month. 3.8 million persons had been fully vaccinated.

October to December 2021

* There were 5,586 new cases in October, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 712,776. The death toll rose to 25,244. The number of recovered patients increased to 686,181, leaving 1,351 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 4,934 new cases in November, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 717,710. The death toll rose to 25,376. The number of recovered patients increased to 691,184, leaving 1,150 active cases at the end of the month. * Tunisia's first case of the Omicron variant was reported on 3 December. * There were 10,133 new cases in December, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 727,843. The death toll rose to 25,576. The number of recovered patients increased to 696,486, leaving 5,781 active cases at the end of the month.

January to March 2022

* On 2 January 2022, one death and five hundred and forty two new cases were reported. There were 179,396 new cases in January, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 907,239. The death toll rose to 26,271. The number of recovered patients increased to 766,677, leaving 114,291 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 90,991 new cases in February, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 998,230. The death toll rose to 27,784. The number of recovered patients increased to 950,873, leaving 19,573 active cases at the end of the month. * There were 39,128 new cases in March, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 1,037,358. The death toll rose to 28,425. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,022,000, leaving no active cases at the end of the month.

April to June 2022

* There were 3,354 new cases in April, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,040,712. The death toll rose to 28,566. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,026,756. * There were 2,160 new cases in May, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,042,872. The death toll rose to 28,641. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,028,885. * There were 23,255 new cases in June, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,066,127. The death toll rose to 28,748. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,037,537.

July to September 2022

* There were 68,533 new cases in July, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,134,660. The death toll rose to 29,105. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,114,359. * There were 9,802 new cases in August, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,143,862. The death toll rose to 29,234. * There were 1,824 new cases in September, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,145,686. The death toll rose to 29,246. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,132,266.

October to December 2022

* There were 907 new cases in October, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,146,593. The death toll rose to 29,259. The number of recovered patients increased to 1,133,072.

Economic consequences

On 18 March 2020, the President of the

Tunis Stock Exchange ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

(BVMT) noted a 14.2% drop in the stock market index in Tunisia. On 21 March 2020, the flagship index of the Tunis Stock Exchange finished falling by 7.3% to 6,138.82 points.

Statistics

Charts

Total no. of cases (cumulative)

Confirmed new cases per day

Confirmed deaths per day

Cases identified by Governorates of Tunisia

References

External links

Official website
* {{#related:COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory Coronavirus pandemic Coronavirus pandemic Coronavirus pandemic Coronavirus pandemic