Mustapha Ennaji, director of the virology laboratory at Hassan II University in Casablanca, has warned that the drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco is due to a marked decrease in screening tests.
In an interview with Moroccan television 2M, Ennaji said that less COVID-19 screening tests lead to a sharp drop in detected COVID-19 cases. In recent days, Morocco detected 1,000 to 800 COVID-19 cases a day, down from up to 4,000 new cases per day in the past few months. “Before we did 26,000 tests per day, today we are at less than 10,000 tests per day,” the health official said.
According to Ennaji, health officials have observed that some citizens use the COVID-19 screening scanner, which gives immediate results. The expert also justified the decrease in the number of COVID-19 due to the strict measures, and night curfew. A week before the usual New Year festive period, Morocco’s government announced national lockdown measures, including a night curfew for three weeks until further notice.
Authorities also asked shops, cafes, and restaurants to close at 8 p.m. Morocco also announced total closure of restaurants, including Tangier, Marrakech, and several other cities. Ennaji also spoke about the new strain of COVID-19 that has appeared in a few countries, including the UK and Denmark.
The health professional said that there previously were eight variants of the pandemic, with the new strain being the ninth. He said the new strain increases the virus’s infection pace almost by 70. He said, however, this worrying infection speed does not affect the virus’ virulence nor affect its death rate. Ennaji also emphasized that current vaccines are still effective against the pandemic, including the new strain. “The vaccine remains effective and efficient, despite the mutation of COVID-19,” he said. “In the history of pandemics, the virus itself disappears, otherwise its disappearance is activated with an effective vaccine capable of thwarting the spread of the virus.” Morocco has so far confirmed 443,146 COVID-10 cases, including 413,393 6 recoveries, and 7,485 deaths.