Morocco Considers Reinstating Lockdown as COVID-19 Cases Surge

A few days before the July 10 date announced as the date for the lifting of the state of health emergency, everything suggests that this decision will be postponed, due to "the explosion in the number of infections and the multiplication of clusters". The much-dreaded peak of 10,000 active cases, "synonymous with community contamination and the transition to phase 3 of the pandemic", has been reached. This would mean "active circulation of the virus".

According to the national response plan, reaching phase 3 would automatically lead to the strengthening of containment measures, social distancing and the collective mobilization of health professionals. A few days ago, the Minister of Health had declared that "the pandemic was under control". But the appearance of a huge cluster in a sardine factory has led to the re-containment of the city of Safi.

Since then, Moroccans have been wondering if deconfinement did not come earlier than expected. Some do not understand why "deconfinement took place while the pandemic is affecting hundreds of people daily". Many are curious to know "the criteria on which the government based itself to initiate the deconfinement process," reports lopinion.ma.

But why is the number of active cases only increasing in Morocco, especially in the middle of deconfinement? Istiqlalian surgeon and parliamentarian Allal Amraoui pointed out in an interview that this is due to the "slackening observed among decision-makers, the head of government at the forefront, who allow themselves to appear in public, without a mask".

According to him, "the power of symbols cannot be neglected, as well as the educational action towards the populations on which we can only deplore the failure of the government. He explained that even if the cases of contamination are only increasing, "re-containment is an unthinkable option". Only "the renewal of the state of health emergency seems necessary in the current state of affairs," he specified.

With these new cases of contamination, "planning the recovery of sectors such as tourism, industry, real estate, or even simple businesses, which have been heavily impacted, becomes dangerous," the same source said.