France Keeps Morocco on COVID-19 Orange List Amid Omicron Concerns

Faced with the spread of the Omicron variant, France updated its lists at the beginning of the week. It appears that countries in the European area, as well as Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Taiwan, Union of the Comoros, Uruguay and Vanuatu are on the green list of countries and territories "in which no active circulation of the virus is observed and no worrying variant is recorded".

France has placed Afghanistan, Belarus, Botswana, Georgia, Mauritius, Malawi, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Suriname, Turkey, Ukraine, Zambia and Zimbabwe on its red list of countries in which "active circulation of the virus is observed with the presence of worrying variants". South Africa, Eswatini, and Lesotho are on the "scarlet red" list of countries where "circulation is particularly active of the virus and/or the discovery of a variant is likely to present a risk of increased transmissibility or immune escape".

All countries that are not included in the lists of "green" and "red" countries, including Morocco, are placed on the orange list of countries in which "there is active circulation of the virus in controlled proportions, without the spread of worrying variants".