Approximately 31 of the new cases were discovered in family hotspots in Marrakech.
Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 81 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 8,003.
The ministry reported two additional deaths, one in Guelmim and one in Rabat, with fatalities now totaling 208. The mortality rate stands just under 2.6%, below the global average of 5.9%.
Morocco also recorded 329 new recoveries in 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 7,195. The recovery rate reached roughly 90%, far above the global average of 48.3% and the continental rate of 43.9%.
Health authorities recorded approximately 31 of the new cases in family hotspots in Marrakech, 22 in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, 14 in Fez-Meknes, 12 in Casablanca-Settat, and two in Rabat-Sale-Kenitra.
Approximately 78 of the new confirmed cases were identified through the monitoring of people who came into contact with COVID-19 patients. The new patients have not exhibited symptoms of the virus.
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There are only 600 active cases remaining in the country after 1,736 patients recovered since Monday. Approximately 15 of the active cases are being treated within intensive care units. Ten of these patients are in Casablanca, three in Marrakech, one in Tangier, and one in Fez.
The ministry partly attributes the increasing number of recoveries to the use of chloroquine, as well as to another drug that inhibits the blood from coagulating. Officials have said these treatments contributed in part to a decreased average healing period.
The Ministry of Health added that 13,500 tests came back negative in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of negative screening tests since the beginning of the outbreak to 235,007.
With the number of daily tests on a continuous rise, Morocco is gradually approaching its goal of performing 1.5 million tests by July.
Morocco is preparing to lift its state of emergency lockdown on June 10. Officials have said proceeding with the plan will require success in lowering transmission rates. The R0 rate, representing the number of people a single infected person contaminates, should remain below 1.0 for two consecutive weeks in order to commence a gradual deconfinement.