TRIPOLI, July 9 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Libyan government announced closing its border with neighboring Tunisia over concern about the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
Due to the deteriorating pandemic situation in Tunisia amid the rise in infections with the Delta variant, as well as the announcement of the collapse of Tunisia’s health system, the Libyan government decided to close the air and land borders with Tunisia for a week starting from 00:00 local time Friday, said the government’s spokesman Mohamed Hamuda.
Through the consulate in Tunisia, Libya will take care of its nationals stranded in the Tunisian territory and facilitate their return to the homeland, he said.
The spokesman also said that schools and universities in Libya have closed temporarily until the Eid Al-Adha holiday, which is expected to start on July 20.
For weeks, Tunisia has been hit by an outbreak of the Delta variant, which caused record infections and deaths and forced many cities in the country to impose lockdown against the pandemic.
Libya has witnessed a significant increase in COVID-19 infections over the past few days. On Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Libya rose by 1,384 to 199,526, including 180,204 recoveries and 3,227 deaths. — NNN-XINHUA
