Morocco Warns of Rising Covid-19 Deaths as Critical Cases Surge

"Despite the improvement in indicators related to the reproduction and positivity rates, we cannot neglect the worsening of that of critical cases admitted to intensive care, which unfortunately risks leading to a resurgence in the number of deaths," said the head of the Communicable Diseases Division at the ministry, Abdelkrim Meziane Bellefquih.

In presenting the biweekly assessment of the epidemiological situation in Morocco on Tuesday, he indicated that critical cases have seen a significant increase, reaching 1,946 over the past two weeks. Abdelkrim Meziane Bellefquih stressed that health centers have exceeded the planned capacity in a short time. The number of intubated patients and deaths have increased by 42% and 36% respectively.

Regarding the other indicators, Morocco has recorded a total of 763,353 cases and 673,116 recovery cases since March 2, 2020, i.e. a recovery rate of 88.2%. The cumulative incidence rate stands at 2,092 per 100,000 inhabitants, while the number of deaths has reached 11,119 cases, i.e. a fatality rate of 1.5%, compared to a global average of 2.1%.

As for the national vaccination campaign, the biweekly report counts more than 28 million doses administered, with more than 11 million people fully vaccinated. The vaccination campaign has been extended to people over 18 years of age and vaccination centers remain open every day until 8 p.m.