It is a symbolic barrier.
Morocco has passed the milestone of one million Covid-19 infections since the start of the epidemic in 2020, against the backdrop of the meteoric spread of infections with the Omicron variant, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.
The Cherifian kingdom has recorded 4,963 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of contaminations since the first case reported on March 2, 2020 to 1.002 million. A total of 14,911 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic.
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Morocco has experienced a very rapid acceleration of contaminations for three weeks, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Omicron variant represents 70% of positive cases.
According to epidemiologist Mouad Merabet, from the National Public Health Emergency Operations Center, cited by the Medias24 site, the peak of the Omicron wave is expected during the third week of January.
Experts believe the record for daily cases (12,039, August 5, 2021) will be broken in the coming weeks.
Faced with the resumption of the epidemic, the Moroccan authorities have closed the air and sea borders since November 29 until next January 31.
A decision that hits the tourism, hotel and catering industry hard, a vital sector for the kingdom's economy.
Authorities have also banned festivals and major cultural and artistic events since early December.
They justify these draconian measures "to preserve Morocco's achievements in the fight against the pandemic".