Hammam Owners Protest Closure Order Amid COVID-19 Restrictions

The official launch of the anti-Covid vaccination campaign is not necessarily a sign that everything can go back to the way it was before. Hammam owners learned this the hard way. The reopening at their level only lasted a few days. Back to the "closure" square for professionals in the sector who will have to face a drop in income, or even bankruptcy for some owners. The first closure had already put all the small trades that revolve around this cultural heritage out of work.

According to the daily Assabah, this decision, which applies to all cities without exception, is justified by the government’s desire to control the virus and preserve the safety and health of citizens. It is also one of the means found by the authorities to control the spread of the new mutated strain of Covid-19, recently discovered in the United Kingdom. Morocco, according to the Ministry of Health, had recorded on January 18 a first case of contamination. It had been detected at the Tanger-Med Port in a Moroccan arriving from Ireland on a boat from Marseille.

The daily specifies that with this decision to close the hammams, several owners, especially in Casablanca, are preparing to sue the government for the damage caused to their business by the latter, by deciding to extend the restrictive measures within the framework of the state of health emergency in the metropolis.