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WHO: Tunisia records highest COVID-19 mortality rate in Africa

July 16, 2021 at 9:31 am

Tunisians working in the tourism industry receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine on June 4, 2021 in Tunis [FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images]

Since the beginning of July, Tunisia has recorded the highest coronavirus death rate across the eastern Mediterranean and Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Thursday.

“The situation in Tunisia is still very worrying in light of the widespread spread of the mutated Delta strain,” the WHO expressed in a statement, noting that the mortalities: “Doubled in less than a week, from 119 deaths on 5 July to 189 deaths on 8 July.”

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported 194 new mortalities and 8,213 new infections within 24 hours.

Only 206,980 people out of a total population of 11.7 million have been vaccinated in Tunisia, and only 676,613 have received their second dose, according to official data.

So far, a total of 526,487 people have contracted the virus, 17,009 of whom have died, and 419,641 others have recovered, according to Worldometers.

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