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Tunisia Reports More than 4,000 Deaths from COVID-19

Nurses clad in PPE tend to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital in the town of Gazes in Tunisia’s southwest. AFP file photo
Nurses clad in PPE tend to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital in the town of Gazes in Tunisia’s southwest. AFP file photo
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Tunisia Reports More than 4,000 Deaths from COVID-19

Nurses clad in PPE tend to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital in the town of Gazes in Tunisia’s southwest. AFP file photo
Nurses clad in PPE tend to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital in the town of Gazes in Tunisia’s southwest. AFP file photo

Tunisia’s total COVID-19 deaths exceeded 4,000 after the country recorded 35 new fatalities.

The Tunisian Health Ministry confirmed that the death toll rose to 4,032 on December 16.

It said 1,419 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 115,966.

It said 1,315 patients with COVID-19 are being treated in Tunisian public hospitals and private clinics, and about 287 patients are in intensive care units, while 82 patients are on ventilators.

On the possibility of Tunisia witnessing a third wave of the pandemic, a specialist in infectious diseases ruled out such a scenario, saying the peak of infections was during the months of September and November.

But he expected higher levels of infections in March, pending the arrival of vaccines to the country.

He stressed the need to vaccinate at least 20 percent of Tunisians to ensure a decline in COVID-19 cases and to stop the rapid spread of the disease.

Speaking about the number of infections and deaths among the elderly in nursing homes in Tunisia, Minister of Women and Family Imen Zahouani said during a conference held Friday that the number of cases has reached 85, while six deaths were recorded among the elderly.

She revealed a set of preventive measures taken by the Ministry to protect such care facilities.

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IOM: Over 55,000 Displaced Sudanese Return to Southeastern State

File photo of Sudanese refugees (AFP)
File photo of Sudanese refugees (AFP)
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IOM: Over 55,000 Displaced Sudanese Return to Southeastern State

File photo of Sudanese refugees (AFP)
File photo of Sudanese refugees (AFP)

Over 55,000 internally displaced Sudanese have returned to areas across the southeastern state of Sennar, more than a month after the army recaptured the state capital, the UN migration agency said Saturday.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said its field teams "monitored the return of an estimated 55,466 displaced persons to locations across Sennar state" between December 18 and January 10.

Across the entire country, however, the United Nations says 21 months of war have created the world's worst internal displacement crisis, uprooting more than 12 million people, AFP reported.

Famine has been declared in parts of the country, but the risk is spreading for millions more people, including to areas north of Sennar, a UN-backed assessment said last month.

In November, the Sudanese army, battling the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, said it had regained control of Sinja, the Sennar state capital and a key link between army-controlled areas of central and eastern Sudan.

The RSF had controlled Sinja since late June when its attack on Sennar state forced nearly 726,000 people -- many displaced from other states -- to flee, according to the United Nations.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands.

On Thursday, the United States Treasury Department sanctioned army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing the army of attacking schools, markets and hospitals, as well as using food deprivation as a weapon of war.

The move came just over a week after Washington also sanctioned RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, accusing his group of committing genocide.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Daglo had been designated for "gross violations of human rights" in Sudan's western Darfur region, "namely the mass rape of civilians by RSF soldiers under his control."