Morocco repatriates citizens until the 23rd from 3 countries including Portugal
ANDIn a statement released today, an inter-ministerial commission charged with coordinating international travel measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus revealed that based on data, flights from these countries to Morocco are once again banned.
Morocco closed its borders on November 29 to prevent the spread of the new variant of covid-19 Ómicron, whose first case was detected in that country today.
On Monday, the Maghreb country had announced repatriation trips for its citizens, as of December 15, from Portugal, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, after the closure of borders due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“Moroccan authorities strongly recommend to Moroccan residents affected and who intend to return to the country, to take the necessary steps to return before that date,” the statement said.
These special flights are flights for Moroccan citizens or residents of the Maghreb country who have recently traveled abroad before the border is closed.
Before boarding, the traveler will have to submit a negative PCR test to covid-19 carried out up to 48 hours beforehand and comply with a seven-day quarantine upon arrival at a hotel created by the authorities and at the expense borne by the State.
The decision to limit the period for repatriation flights came on the same day that Morocco detected the first case of covid-19 of the new Ómicron variant, a woman residing in Casablanca.
The cancellation of flights was decreed for two weeks, but last Thursday the official Moroccan press agency said that the deadline had been extended until data to be announced.
The airline Royal Air Maroc announced on its Twitter social network account that it would cancel flights until December 31, following instructions from the Moroccan Civil Aviation General Directorate.
The closing of the borders (also in the maritime and land connections with Mauritania) left old tourists blocked in Morocco who departed on special repatriation flights.
Covid-19 has caused at least 5,320,431 deaths worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest report by Agence France-Presse.
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, and currently with variants identified in several countries.
A new variant, Omicron, classified as “worrying” by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been detected in southern Africa, but since the South African health authorities raised the alert on 24 November, infections have been reported in skin. minus 77 countries from all continents, including Portugal.
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