Marruecos impide el tránsito entre sus principales ciudades por la crisis del coronavirus

The Government of Morocco has banned all travel to and from some of the major enclaves of the country, such as Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, Tangier and Tetouan, due to the large increase in the number of registered cases of COVID-19 in recent days, the Ministry of Interior announced in an official statement. 

Rabat is the only major city to which the new restrictions implemented without date limit do not apply. The measures were taken after a record number of infections were recorded on Saturday, up to 811. More than half of the latest cases have been recorded in just three cities: Tangier, Fez and Berrechid, the latter being the location where an outbreak was detected on Saturday in an electrical wiring factory and which seems to add up to several hundred cases. The situation is similar to that recorded a few weeks ago in strawberry and other fruit processing companies in the agricultural region located between Larache and Rabat.  

These limitations come while preparing for the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) on Friday, which is usually the occasion for massive travel and family gatherings. The Moroccan government, which has imposed very severe restrictions for four months, did not want to suspend the festival, but the Minister of Health, Khaled Ait Taleb, asked today in a webinar “maturity and responsibility to avoid useless visits and physical contacts in these family reunions, “in addition to remembering that reconfiguration is always possible."

The government statement said the new restrictions apply "in the face of the failure of most citizens to observe prevention measures such as social distance, wearing masks and using disinfectants, despite their availability in large quantities on the market. 

On July 19, the government announced that almost the entire country would be moving to the so-called "phase 3" and that restrictions would be relaxed, which resulted in an evident relaxation of citizen behavior, which seems to have increased the number of cases of coronavirus. 

The 811 new cases of coronavirus reported last Saturday were the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic, just six days after the government announced the aforementioned phase 3.

More than half of these cases (427) have been detected in the northern region of the Mediterranean coast that runs from Tangier to Al Hoceima, which also accumulates almost a quarter of the cases at the national level and thus becomes, in population terms, the most affected by the pandemic.

In this scenario, Morocco is still struggling to stem an increase in COVID-19 cases one month after the three-month national blockade was eased. Morocco has so far conducted 1.1 million tests, the second highest number of tests after South Africa on the African continent, according to the Ministry of Health. 

The use of masks is mandatory, but people do not comply with health standards, which led authorities to issue a strong warning and impose heavy fines. The North African country extended a public health state of emergency decree until Aug. 10, giving authorities room to restore restrictive measures region by region, depending on the evolution of the epidemic. This situation could be an economic blow for Morocco, budgeted by the Moroccan Executive, which expects a deficit of 7.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year and that the economy will contract by 5%.

Morocco’s last-minute decision to stop people entering and leaving some of its biggest cities from midnight to contain a surge in novel coronavirus cases has caused an unprecedented traffic chaos only five days before Eid al-Adha.

Thousands of people rushed to get to their destinations, prompting huge traffic jams at motorway toll gates while ticket prices of coaches and taxis hit the roof as people rushed to join their families for Eid festivities.

“I was asked to pay 500 dirhams ($53) by an illegal transporter to take me from Casablanca to Qelaat Sraghrna, a trip which usually costs me 100 dirhams ($10.63),” Mohammad, who works at a local grocery shop in central Casablanca, told Middle East Online.“I don’t have a choice but to stay in Casablanca because I can’t afford to travel,” said Mohammad, who earns less than the minimum wage.