By Reuters Staff

       1 Min Read

       FILE PHOTO: Medical staff assist a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an intensive care department at a hospital in Ariana, Tunisia, April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui

       TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, an adviser to the government said on Thursday.

       “A COVID tsunami is hitting the country as the number of positive tests is very high, the number of deaths sometimes exceeds 100 per day, and intensive care beds are almost full,” said Amenallah Messadi, a member of the independent scientific committee that advises the government.

       The committee？ ？called for extending hours of the night curfew, imposing a full lockdown in governerates where the epidemic is spreading widely, and barring all sports gatherings.

       After successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year, Tunisia is grappling with a rise in infections. The positive cases rate now is 36% and on Wednesday 1,769 new cases were recorded with 95 deaths.

       In total, Tunisia has recorded 387,000 coronavirus cases and about 14,233 deaths.

       Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan

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