Confinement helped Morocco curb contagion by 85% – Minister

The restrictive measures and night curfew adopted by Morocco helped contain the coronavirus outbreak and cut infections by 85%, health minister said.

The treatment based on chloroquine adopted by Morocco has helped many patients recover but studies have yet to be carried out on the side-effects, Khalid Ait Taleb said.

The end of the confinement, however, should be accompanied by precautionary measures because the virus is “unpredictable.”

He said easing the lockdown will happen when the transmission rate drops below 1, meaning the number that an infected person can contaminate.

There is also a need to see a drop in new infections before relaxing the confinement measures, he said.

Morocco reported 4687 cases this Saturday morning, including 172 deaths and 1235 recoveries.

Most hit regions are Casablanca region with 1174 followed by Marrakech-Safi with 1052 cases, and Tangier-Tetouan Al hoceima with 657.