Morocco suspends all Italy flights due to Covid-19

Morocco suspended all flights to and from Italy, which went under lockdown to stop the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

 

Morocco’s flag carrier RAM offered flight reschedule to its clients as it continues to maintain suspended a direct link to Beijing due to the virus outbreak.

 

More than 9,170 people in Italy have been infected by the coronavirus and about 463 have died.

To combat the coronavirus spread, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte put his entire country on lockdown Monday, banning all but the most important travel and halting all social gatherings.

 

Morocco cancelled international events and ordered that all football matches be played in empty stadiums as a precautionary measure.

 

All events involving foreign travelers or those organized locally bringing together more than 1000 people have also been canceled as the country’s administrations ask staff to be extremely careful and apply precautionary and sanitary measures to avert a potential outbreak of the virus in Morocco.

 

So far, Morocco tested more than 60 people, a 39 year old man and an 89 year old woman coming from Italy’s Bergamo and Bologna, and a French tourist visiting Marrakech tested positive for the virus.

 

Moroccan health services told people who have been in contact with them to stay at home and monitor closely their temperature for the following 14 days and seek medical help in case of symptoms.

 

The country set up temperature screening at airports and ports and prepared its medical staff to deal with coronavirus cases.

 

Export restrictions were imposed on facemasks after pharmacies complained of a shortage recently.

 

Public authorities have also repeatedly warned against the dissemination of false allegations and false information in connection with the spread of the coronavirus, as such false information is likely to create a feeling of panic among the population.

 

The only party authorized to communicate on the evolution of the coronavirus epidemic in Morocco is the Ministry of Health.

In this connection, a young man was condemned Monday in the Northern city of Tetouan to two months in prison and to a $200 fine for having published on a social network a fake video, which claimed to report several cases of coronavirus in Morocco.