Morocco Suspends Flights from Belgium Amid COVID Variant Concerns

This measure decided by the health authorities has surprised more than one, especially the passengers who had already booked their flights departing from Brussels Airport and destined for Moroccan airports. According to rtbf.be, about fifty flights on board TUI, Air Arabia and Royal Air Maroc companies have been frozen pending a re-evaluation of the measure expected within two weeks.

During this waiting period, these travelers will not be able to return to the kingdom via a third country. According to the Belgian Embassy in Morocco, these trips to countries (where flights are not suspended) are also prohibited for Belgian residents during this period. However, they will be able to return to Belgium from Morocco by transiting through Portugal, Spain and France, which are not yet affected by this measure. As for land travel, it is also prohibited to the Spanish enclaves (Ceuta and Melilla) until further notice. For the time being, no exceptional provision is yet planned to authorize the entry of a Belgian resident into Morocco.

More than a year after the discovery of the first case of Covid-19 on its territory, Morocco has taken many restrictive measures to counter the virus. In addition to the state of health emergency extended until March 10, the kingdom has introduced restrictive measures as well as the curfew in December last year to strengthen the security system put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. According to the Moroccan Ambassador to Belgium, Mohamed Ameur, these measures are being strengthened "to protect the populations as much as possible while the vaccination campaign is launched." As of March 3, the country has 484,753 confirmed cases, including 470,425 recoveries, 8,653 deaths, and 5,675 active cases.