In Tunisia, the government decided on Tuesday to transform a new university hospital in the southeastern province of Sfax into a national center for treating COVID-19 patients.

Speaking at the end of a conference on "the prevention of influenza in the time of COVID-19," Tunisian Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi assured that this hospital, whose construction was started in December 2016 with Chinese financing aid estimated at 70 million US dollars, will be ready in a few days.

The government took this decision amid a surge in the daily infections. On Monday night, Tunisian Health Ministry confirmed 528 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths, raising the total infections to 11,260 and the death toll to 164.