The fourth Covid-19 wave has begun in Morocco amid a steady increase of cases, and the emergence of the Omicron variant, virology expert Mustapha Naji, told Hespress EN.
The overall number of daily cases moved from 200 on average, to 654 cases as of Friday, December 24.
Of these 654 cases, nearly 82% were identified in the regions of Casablanca-Settat in the first place, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, and Marrakech.
Naji explained that the Delta variant still continues to dominate cases in the country, however, in the upcoming days, the new Omicron variant is expected to be reported more frequently instead of Delta.
Mouad Mrabet, a coordinator at the National Center for Emergency Operations of Public Health of the Ministry, said this wave will probably last eleven weeks, with a peak during the week of January 17 to 23, 2022, he said, stressing that everything depends on the degree of adherence of the population to preventive measures and mechanisms put in place by the government, according to MAP.
In this regard, Mrabet reported a “strong weekly change” in the number of cases (almost 50%) last week compared to the previous week, with a reproduction rate of 1.42%.
The virology expert Mustapha Naji has already told Hespress EN in a statement that the first Omicron case occurred in a 30 years-old woman who likely had not been in contact with a zero case who brought it from overseas.
“For now, the country recorded 26 Omicron cases, in addition to 46 suspected cases,” said Naji, adding, “there is no big difference between both variants, as they have the same effects, except the new variant is mild.”
Naji said current anti-COVID-19 vaccines used in Morocco protect from severe symptoms, noting, “unvaccinated people are the most at risk to get infected by the new variant, as it is more contagious.”
“Morocco has enough stock of vaccines for the unvaccinated, and even for vaccinated people, as antibodies decrease over time,” he added.
“Admissions to hospitals are possible, as the country prepares to face the fourth wave of the pandemic,” he said.
Recently, the Health Ministry issued a memo to its delegates in Casablanca urging hospitals to prepare and equip isolation and treatment units for Covid-19 patients who might need hospitalization as the Omicron variant spreads, according to a memorandum obtained by Hespress.
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