After UAE, Saudi Arabia & Turkey pledge to donate Covid-19 vaccine doses to Tunisia

Tunisia is set to receive over one million Covid-19 vaccine doses to ramp up the vaccination campaign following pledges by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, one day after the UAE pledged half a million doses.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia made the pledge through its envoy to the North African country, Abdelaziz Ben Ali Sakr who held talks with President Kais Saied.

The pledge also includes 190 respirators, 319 oxygen concentrators, 4 million protective masks, 500,000 gloves and 150 fully equipped intensive care beds.

The Tunisian presidential office said in a statement that Turkey is also expected to send Tunisia 50,000 vaccine doses.

These donations follow those of the UAE and the US which promised respectively 500,000 doses of the vaccine.

Last week the ministry of Health said the health system has collapsed because of the pandemic.

The North African country according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is the worst affected country in the Arab world and Africa. The health ministry Monday reported 4,310 news cases and 104 fatalities. With the new data, the toll of contaminations has hit 501,923, and death count stands at 16,494, while 400,378 have recovered.