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Tunisia faces saturation of hospital beds amid rapid increase in COVID-19 cases: health official

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GABES, TUNISIA – AUGUST 24: : Health workers test people for possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection during the novel coronavirus pandemic at a COVID-19 test station at a field hospital, built after positive cases increased, in Al Hammah Range in Gabes, Tunisia on August 24, 2020. (Photo by Nacer Talel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A Tunisian health official said on Monday that the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases across Tunisia will lead to saturation of beds in public hospitals by the end of October, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported.

“The continued growth in the number of infections, exceeding 1,300 cases per day, would affect the health system of the country,” said Habib Ghedira, a member of Tunisia’s committee to confront the coronavirus.

The committee will present new proposals to control the upward trend of the disease in Tunisia, he added.

The proposals could involve compulsory lockdown for people aged 65 and over, Ghedira noted.

Earlier in the day, Tunisian Health Ministry announced in a statement that 3,034 new infections with COVID-19 were reported during Oct. 23-24, raising the total tally in the North African country to 52,399.

The death toll from the virus rose by 58 to 877, according to the ministry statement.

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