Moroccan Health Officials Debunk Rumors of New COVID-19 Variant in Ouarzazate

"Ouarzazate has not reported any new contamination since March 24. 250 new tests have been carried out since then, all of which have been negative," the regional health department of Ouarzazate said in a statement. In addition to the British, Brazilian and South African variants, a new variant of the virus called "B.1.528" would have been detected, according to a study posted online on Sunday. On his Facebook page, health professional Azzedine Ibrahimi specified that observations have "highlighted a new variant [...] carrying 25 mutations and whose biological characteristic remains to be determined", and that "an assessment is underway to assess the possible effect of these genetic modifications".

After the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan, other countries have also reported to the WHO the existence of new variants. The Moroccan authorities have not, for the time being, reported the existence of any new variant of Covid-19 in the kingdom. A few days before the month of Ramadan, Morocco is striving to take health measures to avoid a third wave of the epidemic.