Tunisia Reports Two COVID-19 Variant Cases

People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020.REUTERS/Angus McDowall/File Photo
People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020.REUTERS/Angus McDowall/File Photo
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Tunisia Reports Two COVID-19 Variant Cases

People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020.REUTERS/Angus McDowall/File Photo
People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020.REUTERS/Angus McDowall/File Photo

Tunisian health officials announced that two people have been tested positive for a new variant of COVID-19 in the governorate of Tunis.

Recent medical reports revealed that the new variants of the virus, discovered in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil, are highly transmissible compared to the Chinese strain.

Director of the Pasteur Institute Hashemi al-Wazir affirmed that the two new cases were discovered by coincidence after a number of tests were conducted.

Wazir said that the first case is asymptomatic while the second is a senior suffering from critical illness and has passed away.

The Tunisian authorities will intensify research and analysis to know more about this new variant.

Head of the Health and Social Committee in the Tunisian Parliament Dr. Sohail Alouni said that the current laboratory tests in the country are incapable of detecting the recently discovered variants.

He noted that the Health Ministry will import new type of tests to serve this purpose.

Tunisian Health Ministry on Saturday reported 903 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 227,643.

On the same day, 36 deaths were recorded, bringing the toll to 7,755.



EU Report Finds Little Aid Is Getting into Gaza

Humanitarian aid is airdropped by the Royal French Army over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 08 August 2025. (EPA)
Humanitarian aid is airdropped by the Royal French Army over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 08 August 2025. (EPA)
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EU Report Finds Little Aid Is Getting into Gaza

Humanitarian aid is airdropped by the Royal French Army over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 08 August 2025. (EPA)
Humanitarian aid is airdropped by the Royal French Army over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 08 August 2025. (EPA)

The European Union has concluded that little aid is flowing into Gaza despite an understanding reached between Brussels and Israel last month, according to a report by the 27-nation bloc’s foreign service.

Although roughly 5,000 trucks entered Gaza during the “limited lifting of the blockade by Israel,” there are still “significant operational and bureaucratic constraints” on aid delivery, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

Since May 19, an average of 36 trucks a day has entered Gaza, laden with food, nutrition supplements, medical supplies and chlorine, but 90% was looted once in Gaza, the report says.

The EU had reached an agreement with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, but officials have not been able to confirm any improvements for themselves.

Israel has blocked an EU monitoring team from entering Gaza because they were not humanitarian aid providers, said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Commission spokesperson, at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.