If you are thinking or planning to travel to Morocco soon and are not sure about the actual COVID-19 situation in Morocco, here are a few recent updates.

Since the end of 2019, the world, including Morocco was living with the Novel coronavirus, which at the time of writing this article infected over 780 Million people according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) statement.

However, after Morocco confirmed the first two cases on the 2nd of March, so far the country has recorded 149.841 cases and sadly lost 2527 lives, and these numbers have brought the country to the 31^st worldwide when it comes to the confirmed cases.

Timeline of responses adopted by the local authorities to suppress the virus  

The Moroccan authorities have responded quite early and quickly to minimize the risk of transmission through putting into place border restrictions on flights from, thorough and to the country, and introducing the state of health emergency by implementing social distance national wide as early as the 20the of March.

∴ 2^nd March (2 cases in Total)

First cases confirmed

13^th  March :

Suspending all commercial flights and ferries from and the hard hit countries including but not only  the northern neighbour Spain and Algeria and China until further notice.

14^th March

The announcement of suspending airways and ferries from and to 25 additional countries, except repatriation flights of stranded foreigner to their home land.

16th March

Schools closure until further notice while classes continue either online or through the national Tv.

19 March

The Moroccan government has declared a state of health emergency which took place the 20^th March until 20^th April, and everyone is required to get an authorisation form from the local authorities to leave their homes except only for essentials (shopping, medical emergency), essential workers are exempt from this rule, non-essential commercial activities (cafés, bars hotels…) are suspended nationwide.

18 April

Extension of the state of emergency for a month.

18 May

Extension of the state of emergency for another 3 weeks until June the 10^th

09 June

Extension of the state of health emergency nationwide with splitting the country into two zones based on the rate of infections:

Zone 01: where the pandemic is under control which includes regions with low population density, mainly rural and small cities

 Zone 02: which included regions where the pandemic is moderately under control.

The restriction were eased in zone 01 while the situation remained cautious and alert until a further notice, and wearing a face covering is compulsory in both zones

21^st June

After the infections and deaths decreased significantly in the country the authorities allowed airport to operate only for domestic flights

 09^th July

The Moroccan government has decided to resume international flights only for Moroccan nationals living abroad, their families, and foreigners who hold a Moroccan residency permit, with two conditions; An antibody test checks for antibodies in your blood and a negative covid-19 issued less than 48 hours prior to your arrival time.

Moreover, Royal air Maroc (RAM) and Air Arabia are the only two airline companies operating flights from and to morocco.

26^th july

Starting from midnight July 26^th  the government have announced that traveling into/out of Tangier, Tetouan, Meknes, Fes, Casablanca, Berechid, Settat and Marrakech is prohibited until further notice due to an unprecedented increase the recorded numbers of infections.

 04^th september

After almost 6 months of border closure in front of international travellers the government have made a big step to mitigate the struggling tourism sector by allowing foreign traveller exempt from entry visa again into the country starting from The 6^th of the same month, eligible travellers must meet all the following conditions:

-Have a confirmed hotel reservation

-Obtain a negative Covid-19 test issued 72 hours prior to their arrival time.

-Fill the online Passenger Health Form

Saturday, 10^th October,

The Moroccan authorities have extended a national state of emergency to the 10^th November 2020 and extend restrictions and curfews which makes traveling between cities quite challenging, as the growing numbers of the confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The Moroccan National Office of tourism have announced today that @Ryanair will resume its flights from and to Morocco starting from 11/10/2020 in addition to Royal Air Maroc and Airarbabia

Ryanair Flights will be flying to:

- Marrakech From London, Paris, Brussels, Liverpool and Manchester.

- Agadir from London, Manchester and Brussels.

- Oujda From Paris.

Conclusions

Morocco is gradually reopening its borders to foreign travellers although the main cities are under local lockdowns, including the iconic Marrakech, Fez, Casablanca and Tangier. Those cities which are not under a lockdown are still under restrictions such as curfews and a limited number of open attractions and leisure venues.

The government is still advising travellers to avoid all non essential travels to and within Morocco. Although the infection rate is reasonably low compared to the rest of the world, travellers and nationals are asked to maintain social distance and follow the health guidelines at all times.

Updated 04/11/2020