Following the discovery of 26 cases of contamination with the new coronavirus among staff at Tunis International Airport, the authorities are not ruling out closing the airport. A hard blow for “Tunisia’s image abroad”, according to the Minister of Tourism Mohamed Ali Toumi.
The balance sheet is provisional, and is likely to worsen in the coming hours; 26 contaminations have been detected at Tunis-Carthage airport, the main gateway to Tunisia. In response to the concern caused by this situation; the aviation authorities have launched a campaign of PCR tests among the 3,000 agents. But the unions are calling for the airport to be closed down altogether to prevent further contamination. “This figure is likely to rise as only the first tranche of the results of the 700 screening tests carried out in recent days has been revealed;” confirms the Webdo information site.
Quoting “a well-informed source” within the national carrier Tunisair; the Webmanagercenter website revealed that “most of the cases of contamination recorded in recent days at Tunis-Carthage airport come from passengers carried by Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Emirates Airways”. The source concludes that Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been lax in terms of prevention.
A lost tourist season
In a statement to the media, Tourism Minister Mohamed Ali Toumi did not rule out the possibility of the airport closing in the coming days. But he fears the harm this could inflict on Tunisia’s image abroad.
Health authorities now fear a second wave of contamination that would be disastrous for the economy. Until now, Tunisia has fared better than its Algerian and Moroccan neighbors, with “only” 1,561 registered cases and 51 deaths since the start of the pandemic. But even with these figures, the country has not managed to save its tourist season. For hoteliers, the only lifeline remains the Tunisian diaspora returning for holidays. At the end of June, tourism receipts fell by 47% according to Webdo.
Source: COURRIER INTERNATIONAL
