Covid-19: Will Moroccan Govt. extend again public health emergency?

The Moroccan government Council will discuss during its upcoming meeting scheduled Thursday the covid-19 pandemic situation in the country and make a decision on the state of health emergency to expire on December 31.

According to some press reports, several factors suggest that Moroccan authorities will extend emergency coronavirus powers to preserve the progress achieved in the fight against the pandemic and reduce the risks of contamination by the virus variants, namely the fast-spreading Omicron.

On Monday, Moroccan authorities decided to ban New Year’s Eve celebrations and announced night curfew on Dec. 31 amid fears of a surge of Omicron infections.

They had also canceled all cultural and artistic events. All incoming passengers’ flights and ferries were suspended for two weeks, while the number of attendees at funerals has been reduced to maximum ten people to prevent spread of the new strain.

To date, over 22.8 million people have been fully vaccinated in Morocco, 24.5 million received their first dose of the vaccine, while over 2.4 million others got their third booster jab.