COVID-19 May Have Appeared in Morocco as Early as January, 2020

Rabat – Moroccan researchers that are tracking the epidemiology of the COVID-19 virus, have found data suggesting that the virus may have appeared in the country as early as January, 2020.

Local authorities discovered the first official case of COVID-19 in Morocco on March 2, and barely two weeks later, March 20, the country went into a full lockdown and state of emergency. At the time, the number of confirmed cases in the North African country stood at 79.

While the turn-around between the “first” case and the state of emergency was seemingly fast, researchers from the Faculty of Sciences at Mohammed V University in Rabat, have found data to support the argument that the first case might have appeared as early as January 15.

The team, consisting of Bouabid Badaoui, Khalid Sadki, Chouhra Talbi, Driss Salah, and Lina Tazi, believe that “multiple and unrelated introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Morocco through different routes have occurred, giving rise to the diversity of virus genomes in the country.”

Most likely, the virus first arrived in Morocco around the beginning of February, coming from Belgium, Spain, and France, the scientists believe, based on the discovery of a group of organisms that are composed of a common ancestor, in this case, “Clade 20C.”

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Following the first official case, around March 4, “new infected cases came from Belgium to Morocco,” and around March 12, “other infected persons entered Morocco from France and passing through Spain,” both from Clade 20A.

By March 17, Moroccan authorities had registered new cases from Switzerland, the US, and Germany. Only around March 22, did “travel-associated” cases arrive from China. 

The research suggests that since “the epidemic spread in Morocco did not display a predominant SARS-CoV-2 route,” it is likely that “multiple and unrelated introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Morocco through different routes have occurred, giving rise to the diversity of virus genomes in the country.”

And while the team maintains that the virus was brought to Morocco around early February, there is also a probability that it “circulated in a cryptic way in Morocco, starting from January 15, 2020.”

The paper also shows that the genetic analysis of the COVID-19 genomes from local patients revealed various new mutations, of which there were no records in other sequences worldwide.