The Tunisian government has implemented a 15-day night-time curfew in four states to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The curfew will come into effect from Thursday. According to reports, the curfew will be applied between 7pm and 5am on weekends and between 9pm and 5am on weekdays.

A total of 363 people have died of Covid-19 in the North African country. As of Thursday, Tunisia has 24 542 cases, with 19 146 active cases, according to Worldometer.

The curfew will be implemented in Tunis, Ben Arous, Ariana and Manouba, writes Turkish-based Anadolu news agency.

According to a report by AFP, Tunisian authorities have warned that hospitals are struggling to cope with an influx of Covid-19 patients and have urged residents to respect health measures to avoid another lockdown, writes Malay Mail.

Just over 5 000 people in Tunisia have recovered from the virus, despite the country’s low testing record, with just over 250 000 tests conducted for a population of around 11.8-million.

Meanwhile, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has dismissed the country’s minister of culture for disregarding the recommended measures to confront the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a report by the North Africa Post, Walid Zidi angered Mechichi after he attended a protest on Monday organised by professionals of the culture sector against the new government measures in their sector.

One of the measures implemented by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19 was to ban cultural and artistic activities and events for two weeks.