Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur, who became the first Arab woman in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in early July, announced Monday, July 12, to sell her racquet to help hospitals in her country, faced with a record number of coronavirus infections.
” It’s for a good cause (…). I cannot sit there and watch my country go through difficult situations ”, posted on Instagram the player, 23e world in the latest WTA ranking, specifying that she would add a personal donation to the amount raised.
The racket put on sale at 2,000 dinars (about 610 euros) around noon Monday, had reached the sum of 17,000 dinars (about 5,200 euros) five hours later, according to the activist Hajer Driss, who takes care of the auctions.
The racket, which was used to beat in turn the American Venus Williams (crowned five times at Wimbledon), the Spanish Garbine Muguruza (winner of the London tournament in 2017) and the Polish Iga Swiatek (9e World Cup and winner of Roland-Garros in 2020), is on sale for a period currently set at forty-eight hours. The objective is to acquire a sum to add a resuscitation bed for a hospital in a Tunisian region, the price of which can reach 30,000 dinars (10,000 euros).
Unprecedented influx of patients
Tunisian public hospitals are currently facing an unprecedented influx of patients, and can no longer meet all the needs due to the lack of staff and equipment. In an interview with a national radio station on Friday, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Nissaf Ben Alaya, said that the Tunisian health system had failed. “Collapsed” and that the situation is “catastrophic”.
Tunisia, which has the death rate linked to Covid-19 ” The highest “ of the region according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is currently at more than 16,000 deaths for 12 million inhabitants.
While Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed was vaccinated on Monday, Tunis is struggling to find the vaccines necessary to protect its population: there are no more Pfizer vaccines according to the Ministry of Health, and 93% of AstraZeneca stocks were administered.
The United Arab Emirates have promised 500,000 doses of vaccines expected as of Monday. China and the United States have also announced donations of 500,000 doses each, according to the Tunisian presidency. Neighboring Algeria “Will deliver aid of 250,000 doses of vaccines” Tuesday, said the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune, according to the Algerian agency APS.
France announced in June a donation of 325,000 doses of AstraZeneca, which will arrive on July 17 via the Covax international solidarity mechanism, according to the French embassy.
In addition, Qatar delivered a field hospital on Friday, and the Egyptians sent two planes of medical equipment on Saturday, the Tunisian presidency said, while three oxygen production units donated by France in May are underway. ‘installation.