Coronavirus: Morocco Set up as Model for Managing Epidemic, Institut Montaigne

Set as a model for Covid-19 management, Morocco spared no means, in particular financial ones, to face the crisis, said the Institut Montaigne.

The think-tank, close to the French employers’ body, published in its weekly letter an analysis by Larabi Jaïdi, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, in which the latter reviews the current health situation in Morocco, its economic impacts and the exit strategy.

In Morocco, after the first signs of the Covid-19 epidemic appeared, actions were quickly taken to minimize the scope of the contamination chain with the establishment of “Coronavirus command posts” at appropriate territorial levels to ensure monitoring and coordination with the health services, and the identification and localization of the epidemic, affirmed the author of the analysis.

“This initiative was reinforced by closing the borders, a ban on assemblies, the closing of schools, then drastic measures encouraging voluntary and then compulsory quarantine”, underlined Larabi Jaïdi who noted that all the measures taken have enabled to avoid 6,000 deaths.

According to the author, the extension of the state of health emergency expresses the desire to maintain vigilance in monitoring the epidemic to avoid the appearance of clusters even if the R0 (rate of virus production) has decreased: from 3 to less than 2.

Regarding the lifting of the prolonged quarantine measures until June 10, he said that “the lifting of quarantine will take place gradually and according to the epidemiological situation of the different regions”.

“An exit strategy is currently being developed, several scenarios are being studied. Its modalities will depend on scientific data on the nature of the virus, the infrastructure of hospitals, the ability to protect the economy and the purchasing power of consumers,” he said.

Regarding the strategy adopted by the authorities to combat the epidemic, the author of the analysis recalled that, in addition to the appropriate health measures which have been taken, a Special Fund for the pandemic management worth 10 billion dirhams (934 million euros) was set up on March 25.