Morocco to resume maritime passenger traffic on Feb 6

Morocco said it will reopen ports to passenger traffic on Feb 6 after a similar announcement last week that it will resume passenger air traffic on Feb 7.

The government has also decided a set of procedures and measures to ensure the proper implementation of its decision to reopen the borders to passenger air and sea traffic, to and from Morocco.

These measures are taken in accordance with the provisions relating to the management of the state of health emergency, and on the basis of the recommendations of the technical committee updated for this purpose, the government said in a press release.

These procedures relate in particular to the obligation to present a vaccination pass and a negative PCR test taken less than 48 hours before boarding the plane for all travelers wishing to access the national territory.

Passengers will also undergo rapid tests as soon as they arrive in Morocco’s airports.

The North African Kingdom has suspended international passenger traffic since Nov 29 over Omicron fears.

Maritime passenger traffic links Moroccan ports to European counterparts and is mainly used by the Moroccans living in Europe.

The easing of anti-Covid-19 restrictive measures came after a drop in daily cases suggesting that Morocco is past the peak.

On Jan 31, cases dropped to 1322 after an average 8000 two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Morocco continues to administer booster jabs to 4.4 million people, while 23 million people took the second jab and 24.6 million people took the first dose.

Morocco is also investing in vaccine supply and has launched a plant in partnership with Sweden’s Recipharm to produce 116 million doses by 2024. The output will include three types of Covid-19 jabs and other vaccines.