Rabat- El Othmani has condemned cholera rumours “provoking fear among Moroccans,” reiterating that the kingdom has no recorded cases of the disease.
Rabat- El Othmani has condemned cholera rumours “provoking fear among Moroccans,” reiterating that the kingdom has no recorded cases of the disease.
In Thursday’s government council, Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani stated: “This information has already been relayed by the Ministry of Health, however we will repeat it so that citizens can be at ease. Yes, cholera has been recorded in [Algeria], but fortunately not in our country.”
“No case of cholera has been recorded in Morocco,” the Moroccan Ministry of Health said on Tuesday, August 28.
El Othmani said that citizens need not be wary of drinking tap water as some rumours suggest.
According to the ministry’s Tuesday statement, “The control over irrigation waters, water wells, and irrigated agricultural fields will be enhanced to exclude any possibility of the arrival of the disease in Morocco.”
The same official affirmed that food contamination is not a matter of concern since irrigation using wastewater has not been used for many years in the eastern region, the most vulnerable region due to its geographic proximity to Algeria.
El Othmani reassured citizens that Morocco has taken precautions against the epidemic and is actively working with different sectors concerned with the issue, including water and agriculture, to protect its borders from cholera.
The head of government recalled Morocco’s agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO), pledging to work together if Morocco was to fall prey to the disease.
Health professionals have given instructions to pharmacists across the country to detect signs of cholera transmission, El Othmani concluded.
Cholera is an infectious illness that results when the cholera bacteria gets into the intestine. The disease causes severe diarrhea, which can cause dehydration and death if untreated.
Algeria has been battling a cholera epidemic since August 7. Algerian authorities confirmed 41 cholera cases and the death of one infected patient on Thursday, August 23. However, by the next day a second person had died because of the epidemic.
