Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Health announced today, March 1, the end of the Omicron wave, which lasted three months.
“The Omicron wave was, as expected, a rapid and short one that lasted 11 weeks and reached its peak in the week of January between 17 to 23, 2022,” said Mouad Mrabet, coordinator of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations of the Ministry of Health.
During the bi-monthly assessment of the epidemiological situation, Mrabet noted that unlike the Delta variant wave with severe and critical cases reaching 4.3%, Omicron is less virulent and less lethal, with only 2% severe cases.
The health official stressed that last week saw a rapid decrease in the number of Omicron cases for the fifth consecutive week. Indicators revealed that Omicron cases went from 24.4% during the peak week in January down to 1.9% last week.
Mrabet also highlighted that the number of cases in intensive care units fell by 40%, as 171 patients left the intensive care after improvements in their health. The number of patients remaining in intensive care stands at 133 cases.
Between February 15 to 28, the number of Omicron-related death cases reached 84, showing a decrease of 26% compared to a week earlier.
As of February 28, the fatality rate was at 0.6% for Omicron and 1.3% for Delta. Mrabet attributed the decline to several factors, including the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign.
The ministry of health noted that 67.5% of people received their first vaccination dose, 63.3% received the second dose, while only 15.7% received the third ‘booster’ dose.
As of February 28, Morocco recorded 83 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. Active cases reached 4,267, while the recovery rate stood at 98.3%.
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