Morocco extends health emergency until August 10

Morocco’s government decided to extend the health emergency until August 10 in a bid to enable control of the coronavirus outbreak.

The move comes as Morocco registers more than 15,000 cases while officials say pandemic is under control ascribing the surge of cases to the rise in tests and industrial clusters.

Under the health emergency, lockdowns and restrictive measures can be restored in case of major outbreaks.

Some 17 people out of nearly 4000 cases are in critical condition while most diagnosed cases are asymptomatic.

Morocco has urged economic operators to resume activity since last May while abiding by protective measures.

Services such as catering and inter-city travel have been green-lighted except to hard hit areas such as Tangier, Marrakech, Kenitra, Larache and recently Safi where hundreds were infected in fish canning factories.

Entrances and exists of Safi were closed and people were asked to respect lockdown measures to control the outbreak. Elsewhere in Morocco, it is business as usual.

In some cities such as Agadir, most people do not wear facemasks in public creating propitious conditions for contagion.