COVID-19 Recoveries Exceed Active Cases in Morocco

Rabat – For the first time in Morocco’s COVID-19 outbreak, recoveries exceed active cases of the virus. With 179 recoveries in the past 24 hours, total recovered patients stand at 3,310, and the recovery rate has reached 50.1%.

The Ministry of Health detected 95 new cases in 24 hours, bringing total cases to 6,607 as of 4 p.m. on May 14.

Breaking Morocco’s three-day streak of no new reported COVID-19 deaths, the Ministry of Health confirmed two new fatalities related to the virus in the past 24 hours. The death toll has increased to 190, but the fatality rate remains at 2.9%.

The majority of the newly-detected cases (86%) were under daily monitoring. The method has proven the most effective to curb the spread of the pandemic in recent weeks.

Since the start of the outbreak, Moroccan health authorities have monitored 37,290 people who made contact with COVID-19 patients, including 7,973 who remain under the 14-day monitoring period.

In addition to the virus carriers who tested positive in the past 24 hours, Moroccan laboratories performed 1,957 COVID-19 tests that came back negative. The total of tests that yielded negative results stands at 71,315.

Health authorities detected half of the new cases in the Casablanca-Settat region, while the remaining cases emerged in Marrakech-Safi, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Fez-Meknes, and Rabat-Sale-Kenitra. The remaining regions did not record any new cases in the past 24 hours.

Casablanca-Settat remains the region with the highest case count in Morocco, hosting 28.11% of the country’s case, followed by Marrakech-Safi (18.74%), Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (14.2%), Fez-Meknes (13.97%), Rabat-Sale-Kenitra (10%), and Draa-Tafilalet (8.85%).

The Oriental region (2.68%) and Souss-Massa (1.09%) have recorded very few COVID-19 cases in recent days. Meanwhile, the southern regions of Guelmim-Oued Noun (0.65%), Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra (0.06%), and Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab (0.03%), in addition to the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region (1.62%), have not recorded any new cases for over a week.

The vast majority of Morocco’s active COVID-19 cases (91%) are asymptomatic or show very mild symptoms. Approximately 8% of cases suffer from severe symptoms but do not require intensive care, while only 1% of patients are in critical condition.

The average age for current COVID-19 patients is 35 years old. More than half of patients (58%) are men while the rest (42%) are women.