Tunis, Mar 29 (AFP) The EU announced Saturday that it would grant 250 million euros to Tunisia to help fight the deadly new coronavirus and the adverse socioeconomic effects of a lockdown.

The bloc's enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi pledged the aid in a telephone call with Tunisia's foreign minister Noureddine Erray, according to a joint statement by the EU delegation in Tunis and the ministry.

Tunisia has so far declared five deaths from the COVID-19 respiratory disease, among 227 people confirmed to have been infected by the virus.

A nighttime curfew came into effect on March 18, and daytime restrictions were imposed last Sunday, limiting movements to those of "extreme necessity". (AFP)

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