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 31st 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.
∴ 2nd March (2 cases in Total)
First cases confirmed
13th 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.
14th 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 20th March until 20th 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 10th
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
21st June
After the infections and deaths decreased significantly in the country the authorities allowed airport to operate only for domestic flights
09th 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.
26th july
Starting from midnight July 26th 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.
04th 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 6th 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, 10th October,
The Moroccan authorities have extended a national state of emergency to the 10th 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.
Tuesday, 23th February 2021
To limit the spread of the new Covid-19 strains the Moroccan government has decided to suspend all commercial flights from and to Five additional countries: Turkey, Germany, Nederland, Switzerland and Austria.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Morocco has suspended flights with several countries, including the UK, South Africa, Denmark, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic.
after adding Algeria and Egypte, on the 9th March 2021 Morocco suspended commercial flight from an to 6 more countries including Lebanon, Greece, Kuwait, Norway, Finland and Poland
According to the available information, the decision to suspend flights will be reviewed in 2 weeks.
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 10/03/2021
