Saudi Arabia will operate on Wednesday an air bridge to Tunisia to help it cope with its coronavirus outbreak amid a spike in cases that has overwhelmed the health sector.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz ordered on Sunday the delivery of the emergency aid, responding to a plea by Tunisian President Kais Saied.
The aid will be delivered through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief). It includes a million vaccine doses, 190 ventilators, 150 hospital beds, 4 million medical masks, 500,000 medical gloves, 50 vital signs monitors, 139 oxygen concentrators and others.
General Supervisor of KSrelief Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah stated that the aid underscores the strong relations between the leaderships of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.
Tunisia is struggling to contain its worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began, putting its health care system under severe stress and depleting oxygen supplies.
The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that a plane loaded with 500,000 vaccine shots had arrived in Tunisia.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had ordered that the aid be delivered to help Tunisia fight the pandemic.
Morocco plans to send 100 intensive care beds and a similar number of ventilators to help Tunisia tackle the pandemic, Rabat's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Tunisia’s vaccinations lag far behind other countries. So far, only 730,000 people have been fully vaccinated out of a total of 11.6 million residents.
Tunisia recorded 106 deaths on Monday and reported 4,300 new coronavirus cases. The total number of coronavirus cases so far in the country has climbed to more than 500,000, with about 16,500 deaths.
