Coronavirus: Seventh case registered in Morocco

Morocco registered this Friday, March 13, the seventh coronavirus case. The Ministry of Health announced that a 39-year old man was tested positive to Covid-19.

 

The patient is a Moroccan national, who arrived in Casablanca on Wednesday March 4, from Spain, the Health Ministry said in a press release issued this Friday.

 

The patient is currently under medical care in one of the hospitals in the economic capital.

 

To date, the number of people affected by coronavirus in Morocco amounts to 7 confirmed cases, including one death.

 

The first case was registered on March 2 when a 39-year-old Moroccan, coming from the Italian Northern city of Bergamo, tested positive to the virus and was immediately admitted to hospital.

 

On March 4, medical tests at the Institut Pasteur-Maroc in Casablanca on a Moroccan woman in her eighties confirmed that it was a Covid-19 contamination.

 

The 89-year old woman had returned from Bologna, Italy, on February 25. The patient who was suffering many chronic diseases died on Tuesday March 10.

 

On March 10, the Health Department announced a third confirmed case of Covid-19. The patient, a French tourist, arrived in Marrakech from Paris where he resides, with two members of his family, by plane, on Saturday March 7. The next day, the Ministry of Health indicated that in the afternoon of Wednesday March 11, the tourist’s wife and daughter also underwent screening tests for Covid-19, which turned out to be positive. The whole family is currently being taken care of by the health services in Marrakech.

 

The sixth coronavirus case in Morocco was reported on Wednesday, March 11. The infected person, 64, is a French-Senegalese national who had arrived in the city of Fez, on March 5, coming from France.

 

Nearly 300 people are currently under medical surveillance by health officials in the kingdom, said Mohamed Lyoubi, director of the epidemiology department at the Health Ministry.

 

Morocco took several measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. The authorities have notably banned flights between Morocco and a number of countries, including China, Italy, Spain, Algeria and France.

 

While several sporting events have been cancelled, all matches in the national football championship of the first and second division teams (La Botola) are played behind closed doors, since March 4.

 

Many trade, cultural, and artistic events and festivals as well as religious moussems have been cancelled.