The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the postponed of may major events in all types of fields, the latest to affected by the outbreak is Tunisia.
The Tunisian culture ministry, after consultation with medical authorities, announced on Sunday the postponement of 2020 editions of two of its most important cultural events, the international festivals of Carthage and Hammamet, due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The Carthage International Film Festival was scheduled to be held from November 7-12, while the Hammamet Festival was slated to be held between July and August this year, however, the festivals have been pushed back to 2021.
This is the first time in their history, which goes to the mid-1960s, to be postponed.
Tunisia will resume its cultural activities gradually starting mid-June, with a limited attendance of 30 visitors at indoor venues.
Furthermore, outdoor performances will resume with a maximum of 1,000 people, amid taking precautionary measures by using face masks and social distancing to stay safe.
As of Sunday, there are now 960 deaths and 1,077 confirmed coronavirus cases in Tunisia.
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Coronavirus[/caption]
More about Coronavirus
The novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.
The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.
The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.
On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.
In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.
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On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
However, it announced the novel COVID-19 is still “controllable”.
“We are very concerned to achieve the alarming levels of the outbreak and its severity, as well as the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva.
“Now, COVID-19 can be categorized as a pandemic… we have never seen a pandemic spread due to the coronavirus,” Adhanom added.
“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change the assessment of the threat posed by the Coronavirus,” the WHO director-general stressed.
Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.
Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.
The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.
People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.
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