Casablanca Hospitals Near Capacity as COVID-19 Cases Surge, Death Rate Hits 70% in ICUs

The daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia reports that the regional health director indicated that at the beginning of the pandemic, 2 cases per week were recorded, while currently 11,500 cases per week are recorded. The intensive care beds dedicated to patients infected with the coronavirus in the Casablanca region are occupied at nearly 50%, while this rate did not exceed 26.5% just ten days ago, the newspaper points out, adding that this figure is climbing towards the red zone, i.e. 65% set by the WHO.

5% of the serious cases received require urgent care, in a region that has only 300 intensive care beds and 3,000 for the least affected patients. Medical sources report that 70% of the people admitted to the intensive care units die because, most of the time, they are over 65 years old and suffer from chronic diseases.

The Head of Government warns: "The statistics indicate that the city of Casablanca accounts for a third of the coronavirus-related deaths recorded nationwide and a quarter of the deaths in the Casablanca-Settat region." What about the possibility of imposing a total lockdown in this region which is experiencing a resurgence of confirmed cases?

A difficult option, responds Saâd-Eddine El Othmani, who fears catastrophic consequences on all levels. Nevertheless, the restrictive measures imposed in the economic capital will eventually stop this exponential increase in Covid-19, as has happened in other cities like Tangier, Fez and Beni Mellal, hopes the Head of Government.