COVID-19 Cases in Morocco Follow Downward Trend, 45 New in 24 Hours

Rabat – With 45 new reported infections in 24 hours, Morocco’s COVID-19 cases appear to have taken on a downward trend compared to the hundreds of daily new cases that marked previous weeks.

As of 4 p.m. on May 15, total cases in the country stand at 6,652, according to the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 90 recoveries in 24 hours, bringing the total number of recovered COVID-19 patients to 3,400. Morocco currently maintains a 51.1% recovery rate, with recoveries exceeding active cases.

The death toll remains at 190 and the fatality rate at 2.9%, with no new fatalities related to the virus in the past 24 hours. Earlier this week, Morocco recorded a three-day period with no new deaths.

Moroccan health authorities detected the majority of new cases at an industrial production unit in Casablanca and within two families in Tangier.

Meanwhile, six Moroccan regions did not record any new cases: Draa-Tafilalet, the Oriental region, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, and Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab.

Daily monitoring of people who made contact with COVID-19 patients continues to prove the most effective method to detect new cases. In the past 24 hours, 39 of the 45 new patients tested positive for the virus during the monitoring period.

Moroccan laboratories have performed a total of 3,694 COVID-19 tests in the past 24 hours, of which 3,649 came back negative. Since February, nearly 75,000 suspected COVID-19 carriers tested negative for the virus.

The new cases did not affect the regional rankings by case count, as Casablanca-Settat remains the most affected region in Morocco, with 28.29% of the country’s total cases. Marrakech-Safi comes second with 18.64% of Morocco’s cases, followed by Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (14.22%), Fez-Meknes (13.95%), Rabat-Sale-Kenitra (9.97%), and Draa-Tafilalet (8.79%).

COVID-19 cases in the remaining regions represent relatively low shares, ranging from 0.03% in Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab to 2.66% in the Oriental region.

The Ministry of Health continues to detect COVID-19 hotspots across the country, mainly due to illegal gatherings or noncompliance with safety measures at workplaces.

As Morocco nears its scheduled end date of the lockdown, May 20, the basic reproduction number (R0) of the novel coronavirus remains higher than 1. The health ministry announced that the country can only start safely easing lockdown measures when the R0 is lower than 1.