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Rabat – Morocco’s response to the COVID-19 crisis is “far superior” than the French response, announced the former vice president of France’s National Front party and member of the European Parliament, Florian Philippot.
“Today, we will see how Morocco has knocked out France during the coronavirus crisis,” said Philippot in the introduction of a speech uploaded to his YouTube channel.
Morocco, a country 23.5 times poorer than France, is experiencing superior results in terms of COVID-19 mortality, the politician said before comparing the two countries’ coronavirus figures.
At the time of the video recording, Morocco had recorded 165 deaths for 36 million inhabitants, while France had recorded 23,660 deaths for 67 million inhabitants.
“Morocco has recorded 77 times less deaths than France. It is remarkable,” Philippot commented.
The French politician explained how Morocco prevented the worst thanks to its adherence to three main principles: Anticipation and efficiency, sovereignty, and independence from the pharmaceutical lobby.
Anticipation and efficiency
Morocco recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 2. Only 14 days later, on March 16, the country closed schools, and only 17 days later, on March 19, it announced a state of emergency and national lockdown, Philippot recalled.
In France, health authorities detected the first COVID-19 case on January 24. Forty-three days later, on March 7, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte attended a play in a Paris theater, in “complete inconsideration” of the pandemic’s development in the country, the politician deplored.
Philippot also compared the production and use of face masks in Morocco and in France.
“Morocco made wearing face masks mandatory on April 7, which is still not the case in France, even as we are getting closer to [lifting the lockdown] on May 11,” he said.
The politician also commended Morocco’s production of face masks and criticized the French government for not following similar steps: “Morocco put itself in a situation of maximal [face mask] production, of general mobilization. A real war economy!”
Morocco now produces 7 million masks per day, or 49 million masks per week. Meanwhile, in France, Macron revealed that the country produces 8 million masks weekly, Philippot said in comparison.
“This is stunning, since France is more industrialized and richer than Morocco.”
The Frenchman also expressed his astonishment at the general mobilization of Morocco’s textile industry to produce masks and protective gear: “Today, there are 17 Moroccan factories operating day and night to produce masks and, in the near future, production will reach 10 million masks daily.”
The difference between Morocco and France, according to Philippot, is that the North African country did not rely on importing Chinese face masks, which was the strategy adopted by France and many other industrialized countries.
“Today, we are still waiting for Chinese face masks to arrive … We put our destiny in the hands of Chinese conglomerates and it was an error,” Philippot decried.
To conclude his comments about Morocco’s “anticipation and efficiency,” the politician compared the prices of face masks in Morocco and in France.
In Morocco, where the government has fixed their prices, face masks are available for only €0.07 per unit. Meanwhile, face masks in France reach prices as high as €8.50 or €10 per unit.
Sovereignty
The difference between Morocco’s and France’s sovereignty was clearly evident in the closure of international borders, Philippot said.
While Morocco closed its international borders only 15 days after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, France has not done the same and does not plan to, even after lifting the lockdown, the politician lamented.
Philippot went on to criticize the French government’s decisions by proving their irony.
In a recent speech, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said authorities will put borders between French regions and citizens will not be able to go farther than 100 kilometers from their homes. However, the PM did not mention the international borders, as they remain open.
“This means that during the deconfinement, it would be easier to go from Berlin to Paris than from Paris to Lyon … This is what it means to be a non-sovereign country,” Philippot said.
Independence from the pharmaceutical lobby
“Morocco was the first country in the world to adopt the protocol of [French Doctor Didier] Raoult, that of hydroxychloroquine [treatment], since March 23,” the politician said.
The North African country requisitioned the entire national stock of hydroxychloroquine to prevent pharmaceutical companies from increasing its price, he added.
Morocco’s “choice is very different from the choice of France and richer countries, which relied solely on clinical trials,” Philippot continued.
While clinical trials are beneficial from a methodological point of view, they only produce results after several months. Pending results, the fight against COVID-19 is raging on, leaving in its wake tens of thousands of victims, he deplored.
Morocco chose to adopt an observational method in response to the pandemic, through observing the treatments that show promising results and working with the tools available, such as hydroxychloroquine, a drug that is already known, inexpensive, and not dangerous, Philippot explained.
“The result was very convincing because, since April 9, Morocco started recording a significant decline in deaths and an exponential increase in recoveries,” he continued.
The French politician concluded his speech by re-expressing his respect for Morocco’s COVID-19 response and his criticism of the French response: “What we can learn from this is that wealth does not matter in time of crisis. What matters is the principles governing our actions.”
“If you have anticipation and efficiency, sovereignty, and independence from lobbies, then you will have far superior results than countries that are living in lies, in submission, and with inability to project into the future, which was the case for the French government,” Philippot concluded.
