According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Health in Morocco, more than four million people have been vaccinated since the beginning of the COVID-19 immunisation campaign in January.
In order to strengthen the country’s protection against variants of the novel coronavirus, all flights with Poland, Norway, Finland, Greece, Lebanon, and Kuwait have been suspended. Hence, there are a total of 26 countries that have been affected by air restrictions.
Since the first case was reported in March 2020, more than 480,000 people in Morocco have been infected with the novel, according to the statement released by the authorities. More than 8,500 people have died from contracting the virus.
The state of health emergency measure has been extended until April 10, with a night curfew until the middle of March.
Although regular flights are still operating, the country’s borders are still closed.
The aim of the free vaccination campaign is to immunize those over 18 or around 25 million people “with a view to gradually returning to normal life”.
Presently, Morocco uses British AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinopharm vaccines. However, according to local media, it intends to diversify its supplies with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the American Johnson and Johnson.
With just over 500 new cases detected daily, the pandemic seems to be on the decline in Morocco. This has, however, not increased the rate at which screening tests are carried out there.
The health crisis had a disastrous impact on the country’s economy and the unemployment rate jumped to 11.9% in 2020 from 9.2% the previous year. This is owing to the health crisis worsened by several seasons of drought.
