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Rabat – The government’s non-extension of the state of emergency as part of the cabinet council meeting held today in Rabat has raised many questions on the potential abolition of the measure.
Since March 2020 Morocco’s government has been extending the state of emergency monthly as part of the country’s measures to tackle the pandemic.
A few days ahead of the end of this month, the government has made no extension to the state of emergency, which is set to expire by next week on February 28.
When asked by journalists today following the government’s council press briefing, Spokesperson of the Moroccan government, Mustapha Baitas, said that the state of emergency “was not discussed since it was not on the agenda of the council.”
The positive developments Morocco’s epidemiological situation has witnessed over the past months and weeks are leading many, including in the media, to expect the Moroccan government to end the state of emergency since no extension was announced today.
However, Moroccan news outlet Alyaoum24 has quoted Baitas as saying that the state of emergency will not expire until next week on Tuesday.
“We might hold a new council of government to discuss this ahead of Tuesday, this is likely possible,” he told the news outlet.
With such broad answers suggesting anything is possible between now and next week, many have condemned the government’s lack of communication and clear answers. Others, meanwhile, are taking Baitas’ statements as ample indication that the government does not plan to extend the state of emergency.
On Thursday, Morocco reported seven confirmed COVID-19 cases and six recoveries in the past 24 hours. No deaths were reported. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country currently stands at 71, with official data showing none of the cases is in a critical condition.
For many, these reassuring numbers and Baitas’s comments to the press only point toward the end of the Covid-linked state of emergency in Morocco.
