Casablanca Faces COVID-19 Test Shortage as Cases Surge

Getting a screening test in Casablanca is a challenge. Those who need the test result for various reasons are forced to keep up with the long queues. Many people who showed symptoms of Covid-19 have seen their doctor’s appointment postponed for several days.

This is the case of Hind, a young civil servant who displayed all the symptoms of Covid-19 but was unable to get the screening test done in the private or public sector due to the large influx, her condition worsened to the point where she ended up in a private clinic, hospitalized for respiratory distress, reports Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

Yet two weeks ago, Health Minister Khalid Aït Taleb had declared in Marrakech that private laboratories would be associated with the realization of screening tests. The objective is to reduce the pressure on public laboratories and would allow the authorities to monitor those tested positive and contact cases. What is blocking the implementation of this strategy then? According to the Ministry of Health, it was necessary to ensure that private laboratories wishing to carry out these tests have all the appropriate scientific and technical means.

Meanwhile, the need on the ground is great and the population may, faced with the difficulty, trivialize this key measure in the fight against the spread of the virus, the same source specifies.