Letter from... Rabat

By Driss Benhima, Managing Director, Cambre Associate Morocco

The management of public life in Morocco is marked at the moment, as in the rest of the world, by two largely contradictory constraints: to ensure the quickest restart of the economy and social lives and to protect the country from the return of an outbreak of the disease.

As it has done since the beginning of the health crisis, the Government and the State apparatus have demonstrated an undeniable mastery in the management of these two objectives. It has divided the country into areas where life has returned, largely to normal, and areas where a fairly strict containment remains because they still contain clusters of the virus.

In regions that are no longer confined, shops, travel and economic activities are fully permitted, with some constraints of distancing  and wearing masks. Shopping areas, restaurants and hotels are also required to take measures to avoid too much social mixing.

Schools and universities will not resume until September.

Mosques are preparing to reopen their doors, but the great Friday prayers continue to be banned. Family reunions, weddings and funerals are still strictly under controlled conditions, only four people can attend the burials, which is painful for the families.

But apart from these constraints, life has quickly returned to normal and only the masks on faces remind us that the state of the health emergency is still in effect until August.

In areas still infested with the disease, some neighbourhoods are strictly confined as at the height of the epidemic and travel between communities is strictly limited. And as soon as a new cluster appears, often in factories or farms, the entire province concerned is put back in lockdown.

In conclusion, a dynamic and prudent approach to management continues with close observation of the proximity to the pandemic, with massive testing campaigns and through vigorous and immediate treatment of the virus when it resurges.

Unfortunately, contamination figures have increased since the end of containment, due to the restart of activities. However, thanks to our efficient management of every new cluster of contamination our disease mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world.