![People wait to get tested for COVID-19 outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis](https://utterbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/40afdae6b8321f84fe1c3da773000855-640x427.jpeg)
Tunisia on Thursday banned travel between the country’s regions, suspended schools and public gatherings and extended a curfew, as it tried to contain a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases with hospitals nearly full. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has said Tunisia cannot afford a second lockdown with the government already fighting the central bank over a projected deficit double what it had originally foreseen. As well as banning internal travel in most cases, the new rules include a suspension of schools until Nov. 8, a two-week suspension of universities and a ban on protests and public gatherings of more than four people.