Coronavirus: 5.1 million Moroccan households receive financial assistance

The number of households that received financial aid from the Special Fund for the Covid-19 management has reached 5.1 million, said Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit on Wednesday at a parliamentary hearing.

Stipends have been distributed to 800,000 people affiliated to National social security fund (CNSS), 2.3 million households having RAMED health card (medical assistance program set for the poor citizens) and two million people who are not registered in RAMED system, explained the minister.

Morocco’s Economic Monitoring Committee (CVE), created to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Moroccan economy and society, announced in March that Moroccans who lost their jobs due to the pandemic would receive monthly stipends ranging from MAD 800 ($80) to MAD 2,000 ($200), in addition to medical coverage.

The Interior Minister also spoke of the management of the lockdown to prevent the spread of covid-19, the medical equipment supplied quickly to hospitals, the setting up of field hospitals and the supply of markets with necessities.

The minister also tackled the mobile phone app launched lately by the national police to track citizens’ movements amid the state of emergency, saying the tracing app was developed by Moroccan computing engineers and deployed in agreement with the National Commission for the Control of Personal Data Protection (CNDP), to ensure the respect of privacy and protection of personal data.

Laftit assured that the application is “100% temporary.”

 

Regarding the lift of the lockdown, Laftit said several scenarios are currently being examined to come up with the optimal strategies for lifting the state of emergency.

He called on citizens to abide by the measures taken by public authorities to contain the coronavirus pandemic, insisting that all citizens must be “deeply convinced of their common destiny” to overcome the current health crisis.