The ministry called on the elderly and people with chronic diseases to be extra careful.
Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Health has detected 24 cases of the new “English” strain of COVID-19 to date.
In a press release on Saturday evening, the ministry issued a press release to warn citizens against relaxing their vigilance to curb the spread of both the original and new strains of the virus.
While Morocco’s case count has considerably dropped in recent weeks, the country’s fight against COVID-19 is still ongoing, explained the ministry’s statement.
The ministry warned citizens and residents to continue to comply with all preventive measures to limit the spread of the pandemic.
It called on ” all citizens to be extra vigilant, especially since the country is in the midst of a vaccination operation against the coronavirus and that collective immunity has not yet been reached.”
The Consortium of Laboratories in charge of genomic watch and monitoring of the new variants of the virus in Morocco has announced the detection of 21 new strains of the English variant, the statement noted. In total, Morocco now counts 24 cases of the UK variant.
Morocco detected the first case of the new strain in January. The carrier arrived in Morocco from Ireland.
Health experts assured that the new strains aren’t deadlier but proved that they spread faster than the original version of the virus.
The genomic monitoring service has not detected, to date, any South African or Brazilian variant in Morocco, the ministry announced.
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The ministry warned citizens of the importance of preventive measures, including the wearing of the protective mask in a correct way and respecting all physical distancing regulations.
The ministry also asked people to regularly wash hands with water and soap or hydro-alcoholic gel.
Calling on the general public to avoid all gatherings, the ministry specifically urged the elderly and people with chronic diseases to be extra careful.
The statement comes as Morocco continues to fight against a pandemic that has killed over 8,000 in the country.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco reached 480,948, including 464,043 recoveries.
Meanwhile, Morocco has also vaccinated 2,447,716 people since January 28.
The country wants to vaccinate 80% of its population or 33 million people by the end of this year.
With its ongoing vaccination campaign, the Moroccan government expects the country to reach herd immunity and go back to normal, pre-pandemic life before the end of this year.
