Marruecos reporta el primer caso de coronavirus de la variante británica
Morocco's Health Minister, Khalid Ait Taleb, announced that Morocco has registered the first case of the new variant of COVID-19 that first appeared in the United Kingdom.
"The Ministry of Health informs all citizens that the epidemiological monitoring system registered the first confirmed case of the mutated strain of the coronavirus recently discovered in the United Kingdom," the Ministry said in a statement.
According to the official note, the virus has been detected in the port of Tangier Med, in the north of the country. It is a Moroccan carrier that was in Ireland. It arrived in the North African country on a ship from Marseille, France. Despite carrying the virus, the carrier did not show any symptoms of coronavirus and is currently under quarantine in Casablanca.
All the necessary contact tracing has been carried out in accordance with Moroccan health protocol and the people with whom the man had contact are also under quarantine, according to the protocol of the Ministry of Health.
The UK Government announced in mid-December the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19. This was a version that could be 70% more contagious, but it has not been confirmed that it is stronger. Health experts, however, do not believe that the new variant is as deadly.
This caused the Moroccan government to decide to suspend all flights to the UK. The Executive said the decision was taken in the context of urgent preventive measures to ensure the safety of people and limit the spread of COVID-19.
This decision followed the announcement by several countries such as Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium that they had also decided to suspend flights with the United Kingdom.
The BBC quoted Health Secretary Matt Hancock as saying that the new strain of COVID-19 was "out of control". The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern and said it was in direct contact with UK officials. The WHO said nine cases of the same strain had been detected in Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands.
A variant was also detected in South Africa and Brazil. This has led many countries, including the UK, to ban flights from Latin America, Portugal, Panama and Cape Verde.
Spain today announced a ban on passengers from Brazil and South Africa, while flights from the UK remain in force.
However, despite the suspension of flights between the UK and several countries, the new COVID-19 strain appeared in at least 33 other countries.
According to the Moroccan Ministry of Health, the country has recorded a total of more than 460,000 cases of coronavirus, while the total number of deaths from COVID-19 exceeds 7,870.
