Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday announced the lifting of a nighttime curfew in place since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but imposed vaccine certificates for public events. The curfew, currently in place between midnight and 5:00 am, will end on Sunday, Saied’s office said in a statement. A certificate proving the holder is fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be necessary to “attend or take part in demonstrations, public and private activities or gatherings in open and closed spaces”, it said.
After a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases in early July with 3,000 cases and more than 100 deaths per day, the North African country of 11.7 million people has seen its caseload tumble in recent weeks. On Wednesday the country recorded just 556 new cases and seven deaths, according to the health ministry. Experts have attributed the improvement to an accelerating vaccination campaign and immunity among those who have already had the disease. Almost have the population has received a first vaccine dose while 2.6 million are fully innoculated. The health ministry hopes to have six out of 10 Tunisians vaccinated by the end of October.
