Government Spokesperson: COVID-19 Pandemic Is Far From Over in Morocco

Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Education and Government Spokesperson Said Amzazi has urged Moroccans to understand that the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, warning them that the country remains in a dangerous phase.

“Unfortunately, as shown in this graph, we are not yet safe from the pandemic,” Amzazi wrote in a Facebook post.

The minister shared a graph showing weekly statistics of new COVID-19 cases, recoveries, and deaths in Morocco.

The chart shows that despite a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases detected in the ninth week of the outbreak, between April 27 and May 3, the figure rose again in the following week.

“In the previous week, we believed that the epidemic situation in our country had improved and that we overcame the dangerous phase … but Moroccans should understand that the battle is not over yet,” Amzazi continued.

The period between April 27 and May 3 experienced a sharp decline in new COVID-19 cases, with only 838 cases compared to 1,194 and 1,210 in the two earlier weeks. In parallel, new recoveries recorded an exponential increase, climbing from 266 new recoveries in week eight to 845 in week nine.

However, the number of new cases increased again in week 10, between May 4-10, to reach 1,160. Meanwhile, recoveries have also maintained their positive growth, reaching a peak of 1,116 recoveries in one week.

Because recoveries in Morocco are increasing, the total number of active cases in Morocco has remained close to 3,000 since April 24.

“We have achieved a lot and avoided the worst thanks to the solidarity of everyone, so let us continue this resilience against the virus. We call on all Moroccans to act with awareness and responsibility and to respect the public health lockdown. Or else, we will all take responsibility,” Amzazi concluded.

The official’s statement may be laying the groundwork for a further extension of Morocco’s state of emergency and nationwide lockdown, scheduled to end on May 20.

On March 20, the Moroccan government enacted a state of health emergency and soon established it for the duration of one month, aiming to restrict the movement of citizens and curb the COVID-19 spread in the country.

On April 18, two days before the scheduled end of the lockdown, the government decided to extend the state of emergency for an additional month, until May 20, arguing the COVID-19 situation did not yet allow the lifting of the lockdown.

With only nine days left before the new end date of the state of emergency, the Moroccan government “is still studying all possible scenarios,” as announced by Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani.