Tunisia's government has appealed for help from citizens abroad after the authorities declared the country’s health system had "collapsed", amid a rapid surge of the Delta variant which has led to increase in hospitalisation.

"Donate money, medical and paramedical equipment," the Tunisian embassy in France said in a post on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the Tunisian ministry of health described the situation in hospitals as "catastrophic" - with an acute shortage of hospital beds and oxygen, as well as exhausted medical staff.

The army has been deployed to enforce a new lockdown in some parts of the country that has vaccinated only 12% of its population.

Tunisians based in Canada gathered last week in front of the parliament in Ottawa to urge the government to send coronavirus vaccines to Tunisia.