Morocco Ramps Up Coronavirus Surveillance to Detect New SARS-CoV-2 Variants

According to the Ministry of Health, a special procedure entitled "investigation of a cluster linked to a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 not yet in circulation in Morocco" has been put in place.
Information obtained from the same source indicates that this procedure, which has been developed to frame the investigation around possible cases of disease due to a variant not yet circulating in Morocco, aims to identify as quickly as possible all contacts and to ensure the appropriate care of cases and contacts.

The ministry specifies that the procedure defines 3 levels of cases: suspected, probable and confirmed of a new variant; the latter is any person in whom a SARS-CoV-2 infection has been confirmed by molecular examination (RT-PCR) and in whom sequencing has revealed the new variant.

This special procedure also presents an investigation flowchart for cases, care modalities, both for cases and their contacts, as well as the circuit of samples and information supports.

Furthermore, the procedure provides for the hospitalization of confirmed cases of infection by a variant not circulating in Morocco for 14 days from the date of onset of symptoms or confirmation by PCR for asymptomatic cases.