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Rabat – As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases grows day by day, Morocco’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Health have urged Moroccans to stay home.
The government has not enacted a nationwide quarantine, but authorities are calling for increased social isolation to clamp down on the spread of the coronavirus.
“Movement in public places will be conditioned by the absolute need to go shopping or to take care of or go to work,” the ministries explained in a joint statement on March 18.
The statement added that local authorities and public forces will be responsible for asking citizens to respect the measures taken in the best interest of the Moroccan people.
Consequently, once-bustling streets, souks, beaches, and parks throughout Morocco have now cleared of their regular crowds.
Coupled with videos of local authorities patrolling neighborhoods and demanding that people stay home, these ominous images of Moroccan ghost towns appear to signal an impending doomsday scenario.
While it is natural to be concerned with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, empty streets and megaphone warnings should not arouse fear or anxiety.
These scenes, as jarring as they may be, demonstrate that the Moroccan government is actively working to ensure the safety of the Moroccan people against the threat of the disease, and that Moroccans are complying with preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19.
Self-isolation is no easy feat in Morocco, given the widespread reliance on the informal sector of the economy and the culture’s social nature. However, Moroccans around the country are accepting that their national duty in this time of crisis is to simply stay home if they have the means to do so.
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