Morocco Reports COVID-19 Cases in Three Prisons, Ouarzazate Hardest Hit

According to a press release from the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) on the epidemiological situation in penitentiary institutions, the analyzes carried out on the samples of inmates and officials did not reveal any cases except for the prisons of Ouarzazate, Ksar El Kébir and L’Oudaya.

With 535 confirmed cases, the Drâa-Tafilalet region recorded the largest number of people infected with covid-19, particularly in the Ouarzazate prison where 241 positive cases were recorded among inmates and 62 among officials. As for the Midelt prison, the results of the tests carried out on an official proved to be negative. As for the Marrakech-Safi region, three officials tested positive while two of them have recovered. As for the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region, the Tanger 1 prison has seen two positive cases among officials and three among inmates. Furthermore, the Ksar El Kébir prison recorded 3 positive cases among inmates and 4 among officials, including two recoveries.

In Oujda, no coronavirus cases have been reported. The same is true for the Fès-Meknès region, in the local prisons of Ras El Ma and Bourkaiz. The Béni Mellal-Khénifra and Rabat-Salé regions have also not recorded any cases. In Kenitra, the second test carried out on the two officials suspected of having been infected with the coronavirus proved to be negative.

The Casablanca-Settat region, the epicenter of the epidemic in Morocco (1,100 cases), which has 12 penitentiary institutions, has also not recorded any cases of people infected with covid-19. The same observation is made in the Souss-Massa and Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra regions.