Tunisia considers stricter rules after passenger tests positive for variant
Tunisia plans to put in place more stringent entry requirements after a case of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 was identified in the country.
The national scientific advisory committee and government is also considering a potential border closure to prevent another wave of the disease from overwhelming the country’s healthcare system.
Rapid testing identified the genetic code for Omicron in a passenger arriving on a flight from Turkey, Hechmi Louzir, the director of the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, said on Friday. The passenger is asymptomatic and has been quarantined. All other passengers were fully vaccinated and tested negative.
From December 22, Tunisians and foreign residents must show proof of vaccination to gain access all public and private spaces, such as state institutions, hospitals and businesses.
According to Presidential Decree No1 of October 22, this will also apply to university students and staff.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has said that proof of vaccination is mandatory to enter university campuses.
Covid-19 figures are on the rise again, mostly among children, resulting in many schools being closed in the coastal town of Monastir and in Medenine, which is close to the border with Libya.
But Riadh Daghfous of the scientific committee which advises the government on Covid-19 policy has expressed hesitancy over the question of vaccinating children.
Tunisia suffered a catastrophic wave of Covid-19 infections in July that stretched front-line services to breaking point, causing a scandal when images of patients and dead bodies lying in corridors appeared in the press.
The country had struggled to effectively put in place a vaccination programme and was woefully short of oxygen and doctors.
Many doctors had also left to find better work opportunities abroad.
But since the wave of infections in July, the Tunisian authorities have vaccinated 5,225,716 people.
Before that month, Tunisia had found it difficult to get enough vaccines from donor nations, but a steady supply of shots is now making its way into the country, enabling health services to offer booster vaccinations to adults over 18.
Saudi Arabia recently donated 40,000 tonnes of oxygen for Covid-19 patients, but the coronavirus is not the only risk to the economically fragile country.
The president of the Tunisian Association of Pharmacists, Nadhem Chakri, said that a shortage of more than 532 medications, including insulin for diabetics, is compromising the health service’s ability to deliver basic healthcare.
Wary of another wave of Covid-19 wreaking economic havoc, Tunisia’s scientific committee has been speaking of the need to close borders again, particularly the eastern land border with Libya.
Tunisia’s refusal to reopen this border in September caused tensions between the neighbouring states to rise.
For now, as Libya looks forward to its first free elections after years of conflict, this border remains open.