CAPE TOWN - A police robot is patrolling the streets of Tunis to enforce the government lockdown instituted last month to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the region, reported online news publication the Guardian.

Known as PGuard, the “robocop” is remotely operated and equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras, in addition to a sound and light alarm system.

If people are spotted in the largely deserted streets, it approaches them and asks why they are out.

According to the Guardian, citizens must then show their ID and other papers to the robot's camera, so officers controlling it can check them.

It is not clear how many of the Tunisian-built surveillance robots, called PGuards, have been deployed by the interior ministry.