Marruecos prolonga un mes el estado de emergencia sanitaria

The Moroccan Governing Council approved, in an exceptional meeting on Saturday, the draft decree 2,20,300 for the extension of the state of health emergency, after having been presented by the Minister of the Interior. The next step will be the publication in the official state gazette. Morocco continues to take strong measures to curb the coronavirus epidemic. The confinement will therefore last another month. 

Although the decision of the cabinet has arrived around 4.30 p.m. local time on Saturday - 5.30 p.m. Spanish peninsular time - for days the Moroccan public has taken the measure for granted in view of the evolution of the pandemic in the neighbouring country. In the last few days the number of infections has increased considerably; specifically in the last two days two hundred cases have been declared, which contrasts with the modest figures of the first weeks. 

At the time of writing, Morocco had confirmed 2,685 cases of COVID-19 and 137 deaths. Although the Moroccan Executive does not specify the figures, the number of people treated in intensive care units has also increased over the days. According to data from the Ministry of Health, a total of 13,689 screening tests have been carried out to date, far from the forecasts made by the authorities a few weeks ago. About ten days ago, these tests began to be carried out in the network of university hospitals, since until then they were carried out in only three places: the National Institute of Hygiene in Rabat (INH), the Pasteur Institute in Casablanca and the Laboratory of the Mohamed V Military Training Hospital in Rabat.

The state of health emergency, which came into force on 20 March, carries a sentence of between one and three months in prison and fines of between 300 dirhams (about 30 euros) and 1,250 dirhams (about 125 euros), or one of the two penalties without prejudice to the more severe criminal penalty, for those who fail to comply. 

Now that its extension has been confirmed, it is a fact that the state of health emergency will overlap with a large part of Ramadan, which will begin on Thursday 23 or Friday 24 of this month and will last until Friday 22 or Saturday 23 May (the dates may still vary as it depends on the lunar calendar and will not be known exactly until the day before). The sacred month will therefore end just two or three days after the foreseeable end of the state of emergency. 

Ramadan usually brings with it a certain relaxation of economic activity in Morocco. The working day will be shortened to make it more compatible with fasting: from 9 am to 3 pm in both public and private companies, and the authorities hope that this will be an ally in the fight against the spread of the epidemic. 

In Morocco, economic activity has not suffered such a marked halt as in Spain, for example. Although teleworking has become more widespread in recent weeks, in many other sectors of the economy workers are working on a face-to-face basis. As in our country, the hotel and catering industry is taking a hard hit, as is the informal economy, which accounts for more than 21% of Morocco's GDP. 

This Friday, the head of the Moroccan government, Saad Eddine El Othmani, called on the whole of society to join forces to combat the COVID-19 epidemic. "The road will still be long," the cabinet chief warned in a note read by his spokesman Saaid Amzazi. The road will still be long," the head of cabinet warned in a note read by his spokesman Saaid Amzazi. The head of government recalled that health authorities have detected outbreaks of the infection in families and workplaces, without specifying further details. 

Among other measures, the Governing Council on Friday gave the green light to the bill on exceeding the foreign debt ceiling and addressed the draft decree 2.20.331 on exceptional measures in favour of employers affiliated to the National Social Security Fund and their employees who are victims of the coronavirus pandemic, reported La Quotidienne. 

El Othmani also reiterated the gratitude of the government and the Moroccan people as a whole to King Mohamed VI for the decisions taken and for having allowed them to "preserve the country from the burdens of the past".