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As of March 1, 2023, Tunisia had registered around 1.15 million confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) since the beginning of the pandemic.

How the pandemic developed in Tunisia

The first case of COVID-19 in Tunisia was registered at the beginning of March 2020, when a Tunisian man tested positive for the virus after returning from Italy. Almost two years later, the country recorded a peak of 19,923 daily cases on January 22, 2022. The cumulative number of deaths was getting closer to 30,000 as of the end of 2022. Despite the relatively small size of the Tunisian population, the country is among the African nations with the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19. Tunisia started the vaccination campaign in March 2021, reaching one of the highest vaccination rates in Africa.

Strong economic and business impact

Similar to the rest of the world, the Tunisian economy was hit by the pandemic. The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by around 20 percent in the second quarter of 2020, and all economic sectors were heavily impacted. Moreover, there were also implications for businesses and employment. Most enterprises registered a decline in sales in 2020, and reduced business activities significantly affected the labor market. According to a survey conducted in March 2021, the Tunisian population was more worried about the country's economy than the health situation. In fact, the pandemic considerably affected Tunisian households, contributing to increasing the poverty levels in the country.