The medics at Abderahmen Mami hospital in Tunis are part of a health system pushed to its limit, with intensive care wards filled by a new surge in Covid-19 cases that has outstripped a vaccination campaign limited by short supplies, Reuters reported.

Medics at Abderahmen Mami, in the capital's Ariana district, were working flat out this week, tending to intubated patients in its 20 intensive care beds, their chests slowly rising and falling to the backdrop of beeping machines.

Jalila Ben Khalil, a member of the government's scientific committee, who last week warned of a collapse in Tunisia's healthcare system, said the state should declare a health emergency and implement new measures.