Morocco Enters Stage 2 of COVID-19 Epidemic, Health Official Optimistic About Outlook

According to the epidemiologist, the situation in Morocco, despite the worrying picture raised by some, could improve. "All our forecasts indicate that there is a high probability that the situation in Morocco will be better than that of the European countries," he said. Morocco has reached stage 2 of the epidemic while the strict confinement imposed was to limit the damage.

Many fear that the situation will deteriorate without the kingdom being able to escape stage 3. Mohammed El Youbi shares this fear but states that "it is especially the intensity of the third phase that should be different." The coming days, according to the doctor, will be decisive, as they will show whether the confinement and other measures taken have borne fruit. "And there are strong chances that they will have an impact on the forecasts," he affirmed, while stressing that it is "difficult at the moment to say when the peak will occur."

The director of the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control called on citizens to remain calm and above all to maintain rigor in preventive measures "even within homes, in families," so that the efforts made by everyone end up really paying off. He especially calls for patience, because "it is better to be patient now and a little longer, rather than letting go and finding ourselves in an even worse crisis scenario than this one."

As for massive and national screening experimented in other countries, and which would have borne fruit, the doctor has some reservations about its implementation in Morocco. He first explains that no country has had to do this kind of thing, simply because "it is not feasible and it is not realistic." He stressed that Morocco is not in the logic of mass screening, but rather in that of rapid detection. "We do not want to resort to tests whose reliability is not 100% sure. We use PCR; it is the best there is and it is the most reliable technique," he says.