COVID-19 - Morocco Master Thread

[TheWarden]

Originally Posted by badou24

Bet they open the borders in the summer , when its too hot !!

We hit 50 degrees September 2019, while looking for the digtree, in a sand storm to add to the fun.

In the last 24 hours Morocco has banned flights from Germany, Netherlands, Turket and Switzerland due to the new variants. (Ok not really overland related but might help some)

This article was posted in an overlanding group today regarding the Spain Ferry links.

https://www.espace-mre.com/post/maro...SCIOOzgvfbWtNQ

Number of things with this story - first I've not seen it reported in the normal news channels or social media groups. Secondly it talks about the 72hr PCR test but also states that a 2nd test will be required while onboard the ferry. I can't see how they can process a PCR test for everyone on board in the 90 minutes the ferry takes to get from Algeciras to Tanger

[Tim Cullis]

Flights with Belgium and Italy also suspended.

The respective embassies have confirmed that flights are suspended with Belgium and Italy from 00:01 on Tuesday 2 March. The reason is supposed to be due to variants but that then begs the question why flights with France are still operational?

According to GNV, ferries that should originally start operating on 5 March will be postponed to 15 March.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry has broken off all contact with the German embassy in Rabat, https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/202...assy-in-rabat/

[levelo]

As far as I know there are still flights operated out of French airports.
BUT French citizens have been barred from leaving the EU on leisure trips since late January. Only people on business or on emergency family-related trips can do so.
I had decided to go in early February but I couldn't

[TheWarden]

SoE extended until the 10th April, neatly bringing it to over 12 months.

Almost certain to be extended again through to May to cover Ramadan this year

[Tim Cullis]

Improvement works being carried out on both the Spanish and Moroccan sides of the border at Ceuta/Fnediq are be optimistically read by locals as an indication that the crossing could be reopened after being closed for more than a year.

Report: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/202...order-opening/

[badou24]

Good news then ?
moroocon news reported this a few days ago . must be true then !

[badou24]

I have just seen a report that says there will be no new covid cases in Maroc by 11th of March ,
If that is the case we may see some light at the end of the tunnel . and maby they will open the borders soon , but the bad news is there are over700,000 people are out of work , so there may be a spike in crime in the cities
K

[TheWarden]

Reported case numbers are low and recoveries are higher in number than new cases. But I don't think we'll see much change in the border situation until their vaccination programme is more progressed.

Ramadan starts in a few weeks and could easily see a rise in cases, although I think lessons were learnt last year.

At present 20 countries are barred from entry to Morocco, weirdly the bans include New Zealand and Australia which are pretty safe while France and the US are not included on the list yet

[levelo]

Do you know which nationalities are currently on the black list ?

Or does it work with countries where the flight originates ?

I was thinking of maybe flying to Spain first ( I think I'd be allowed to fly to Madrid on my French passport), then off to Morocco...

My friend in Marrakesh says that it is business as usual during the day ( a 9 pm curfew is still in place ) : he's able to hit the slopes every weekend, be it for hiking or skiing. Damn !

[TheWarden]

Algeria, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Denmark, and South Africa.

Transit through a 3rd country isn't possible if your travelling on a passport from a banned country

[PanEuropean]

Originally Posted by badou24

I have just seen a report that says there will be no new covid cases in Maroc by 11th of March...

InchAllah

I think it is going to take another year before this pandemic recedes sufficiently that it is no longer a "top of mind" issue for everyone.

Having said that, though, I suspect that countries that are heavily dependent on tourism will soon (within the next 4 to 8 weeks) implement some sort of policy that admits visitors who have been fully vaccinated, regardless of what the state of infections or vaccinations are in their country.

Michael

[Tim Cullis]

Originally Posted by badou24

I have just seen a report that says there will be no new covid cases in Maroc by 11th of March

I can't see that happening in just 5 days. It's taken 36 days for the rolling average of daily new case numbers to drop 50% from 735 (29 Jan) to 366 (yesterday). Using 'rule of 72' formula this equates to a 2% drop each day which if it continues unchanged would indicate 331 cases on 11 Mar 366*(100-(72/36))/100 repeated 5 times, and 170 new cases by start of Ramadan. The increased percentage of population protected by vaccination will help improve these figures, but increased travel and big gatherings over Ramadan will make the situation worse. Net result = impossible to predict, but not zero.

As of a few days ago Morocco had 8 million doses and is following a 3-4 week gap between first and second doses, so couldn't exceed 4 million first doses unless fresh supplies were guaranteed. It's currently administered 3.9m first doses but should be getting a third tranche of Sinopharm doses this weekend. Germany is reported to be following the UK lead in stretching the gap between doses so that as many people as possible can be vaccinated, if Morocco also did that it would enable an even faster roll out.

[Tim Cullis]

Back in November 2020 the rolling average of new detected cases within Morocco was running at over 5,200 per day. Since then it has dropped slowly but steadily, reaching a low of 350 on 2 March. In the last 14 days, however, the trajectory of new detected cases has shown a slight uplift to 398 cases per day which is an average rise of just under 1% per day.



Moving from a slow decrease of cases to a slow increase is alarming and, fearing the spread of variants, the government has extended the flight suspensions to 10 April and added another 12 countries to the list which now comprises:
EUROPE: UK, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Czechia, Poland, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine
AFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Cameroon
ASIA: Lebanon, Kuwait
SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil, Argentina
OCEANIA: Australia, New Zealand

The holy month of Ramadan is only a month away, and the vastly increased family gatherings around Eid will be causing some concern. At the moment the country is subject to a night curfew from 9pm until 6am, with businesses have to close at 8pm. This has just been extended until 31 March. During Ramadan cafes and restaurants will normally close during the day and there is growing pressure to lift the curfew to allow them to trade in the evenings.



Unless extremely firm action is taken it looks inevitable that new cases will rise and only start to decline again from late May/early June.

Given the above it is difficult to try to predict when Morocco will relax the restrictions on tourist air flights and ferries.

The bright light on the horizon is Morocco’s vaccination campaign. Morocco has done fantastically well and has been lauded internationally for its achievement. However vaccine supplies are running low, with the Chinese Sinopharm company not meeting anticipated deliveries. 500,000 doses were delivered early March making 1.5m to date, however this is against a total order of 45m. It is particularly galling as Morocco was a key participant in the Sinopharm clinical trials.



Morocco has approved two additional vaccines, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccines, for use within the Kingdom. 1 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine have been ordered and it is expected half will be delivered in March, half in April. It appears unlikely Morocco will receive any Janssen vaccines before mid to late 2021. A further 1.2m Astrazeneca doses are to be delivered through the COVAX initiative, but no date has been announced.

To date Morocco has received 8.5m doses of all vaccines, enough to provide first and second doses to 4.25m people. In the last eleven days the focus has switched from administering first doses to providing second doses for all those vaccinated earlier. HM King Mohammed VI was one of those given a second dose of vaccine.

Morocco has now administered 4,236,386 first doses and has supplies for only ONE more day at current rates. 1,960,996 second doses have been given but the overall rate of vaccinations will have to drop in order to maintain the 3-4 week gap from first doses. Hopefully additional supplies will arrive soon, insha'Allah.

[TheWarden]

Flight restrictions currently timed in line with the SoE dates (10th April) but the SoE will certainly be extended to cover Ramadan entirely

You can still visit as a tourist if your not travelling on a passport from one of the 32 Red List countries, providing you have a negative PCR and hotel booking.

GNV ferries currently list ferries from Genoa resuming from April, although they have a significant track record over the last year of selling tickets for ferries that didnt run, so a degree of caution is needed if your tempted to book.

Some very obvious political and non scientific decisions in play with the red list countries (Algeria blocked, France and US not blocked despite large case numbers and the emerging new strain in Brittany) The ban on Australia and New Zealand doesn't seem to fit with any political or scientific reasoning!

(News today saying Vaccinated Isrealis are allowed in)

[TheWarden]

France and Spain added to banned list.

Current list of Countries barred from entry into Morocco due to coronavirus:

- Argentina
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Croatia
- Mozambique
- Italy
- Belgium
- Turkey
- Switzerland
- Germany
- The Netherlands
- Austria
- Portugal
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- The Czech Republic
- Australia
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Denmark
- The United Kingdom
- Brasil
- Algeria
- Egypt
- Poland
- Norway
- Finland
- Greece
- Lebanon
- Kuwait
- Mali,
- Ghana
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Guinea-Conakry
- Libya
- France
- Spain

Still no ferries are running between Morocco, Spain, France or Italy. GNV Ferries website currently shows ferries available in April between Italy and Morocco.

The border with Mauritania remains closed to tourists.