Rabat – The Moroccan government has added Italy and Belgium to the list of countries with which to suspend air links, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Air Arabia confirmed the news in a tweet on Monday, March 1, which explained that “As per the latest Moroccan guidelines, flights from/to Italy and Belgium are suspended starting from midnight until further notice.”
Both embassies confirmed the suspensions. The Belgian embassy also indicated that “trips to Morocco via a third country are [also] banned for this period.”
The COVID-19 safety measures affect 56 flights from Air Arabia, Royal Air Maroc, and TUI at Brussels Airport, reports the Belga news agency. Meanwhile, the suspension of air traffic between Morocco and Italy will disrupt the flights of Royal Air Maroc, Ryanair, Air Arabia Maroc, American Airlines, Iberia, Transavia France, easyJet, and KLM.
Morocco had already suspended maritime links with Italy on February 3.
Read also: Morocco to Have At Least 20 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines by End of April
The news comes following the latest suspension of flights starting midnight, February 22, with Switzerland, Turkey, The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. The North African country had already suspended flights with several other countries, including the UK, South Africa, Denmark, Australia, Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
Despite Morocco’s steadily decreasing infection rate, the government has proceeded with caution. On March 1, Morocco extended the night curfew by two more weeks.
“This decision is made on the basis of the recommendations of the Scientific and Technical Commission concerning the need to maintain the necessary measures to fight against the coronavirus,” the government’s statement said.
As of March 1, Morocco has confirmed a total of 483,766 COVID-19 infections, with 5,784 active cases. On the same day, Morocco announced 14 COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the total to 8,637.
Under Morocco’s national vaccination campaign 3,568,670 people have received the first dose, with 232,980 having received the second dose.
