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Rabat – The World Bank highlighted Morocco for the country’s effective approach to curbing the spread of COVID-19 and limiting the deadly impact of the virus.
“Today, more than three months after the start of the crisis, Morocco has one of the lowest fatality rates (the number of deaths compared to the total number of infections) in the world (less than 2.6%), while 90% of cases are cured,” said the leading international financial institution in an online article published on June 16.
The World Bank praised the country’s commitment to ensuring public health and safety by noting Morocco’s swift and strict measures to respond to the global pandemic. Most of the government’s overarching restrictions including stay-at-home orders, enforcing an early evening curfew, sanitation efforts, and sufficient medical response have been ongoing for more than three months.
The financial institution also mentioned Morocco’s lengthy lockdown and the Ministry of Health’s plans to slowly ease its measures. “Thanks to the gradual easing of containment measures in the country, Morocco is now experiencing a resumption of social interactions and economic activities.”
While Morocco remains under a state of emergency until July 10, the government has categorized zones within the country to begin slowly lifting restrictive measures. El Othmani, head of the Moroccan government, insisted that Moroccans remain cautious and continue to take protective measures to prevent ruining the country’s “positive results with impatience.”
The World Bank echoed El Othmani’s warning saying, “The virus continues to weigh significant threat, which requires the full attention of the public authorities in order to prevent the occurrence of a second epidemic wave.”
In order to support Morocco’s efforts and ensure sufficient resources to manage the following phases, necessary to cope with the economic aftermath and continuous threats from the virus, the World Bank has allocated new funds under the Primary Health Program in Morocco.
The funds will support laboratory equipment and systems to better detect cases of the novel coronavirus and facilitate contact tracing. They will also ensure that healthcare workers remain well-equipped to manage the crises if new cases arise.
“This support intended to support the response of the Moroccan authorities aims to limit the spread of the virus, and consequently the social and economic difficulties due to the pandemic,” said Jesko Hentschel, Director of Operations for the World Bank Maghreb division.
“The program will help improve the capacity to detect and treat COVID-19 cases, which will help mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy,” he added.
In addition to noting the critical steps taken by the Moroccan government to mitigate the detrimental effects of the virus, the World Bank also praised the country’s ability to “demonstrate agility and anticipation,” prove resilience, and develop protocols and resources to address medical facilities while providing real-time monitoring of the epidemic with reliable data.
