Morocco Extends COVID-19 Emergency Measures Amid Public Fatigue

The state of health emergency has just been extended by two weeks in Morocco. The news is not particularly surprising, after the twenty or so cases of the new English variant recorded in the kingdom. According to some rumors, the curfew should remain in effect until the end of Ramadan. For others, a re-containment is not to be excluded in order to achieve collective immunity in the next three months.

But the majority of Moroccans are wondering about the need to maintain these restrictive measures when the epidemiological situation is clearly improving in the kingdom. As of March 1, the number of deaths is declining (between 8 and 10 deaths per day). The same goes for severe cases (429 to 394 from Sunday to Monday).

"The epidemiological situation is rather good and stable for the moment, but we must absolutely not let our guard down," warns Dr. Said Afif, president of the National Federation of Health (FNS), who welcomes the government’s decision to maintain these measures. "Moroccans are certainly tired of the restrictions, like all citizens of the world, but the Kingdom must maintain them so as not to fall back into the same scenario as Aid Al-Adha where the figures exploded after the easing of measures...", he said in an interview with Hespress. This is why he urged citizens to be patient for another two to three months, the time to vaccinate as many people as possible and achieve collective immunity.

Moulay Mustapha Ennaji, director of the virology laboratory at the University of Hassan II in Casablanca, for his part, supported that "once 80% of the population is vaccinated and collective immunity is achieved, we will have won this battle". For him, it is necessary to "redouble vigilance and not be fooled by the figures which are rather good".