Authorities committee says determination taken due to fast unfold of latest variant ‘in Europe and Africa’.
Morocco has mentioned it’ll halt incoming passenger flights for 2 weeks as concern grows over a brand new, closely mutated variant of the coronavirus dubbed Omicron.
A authorities committee tasked with overseeing the nation’s COVID-19 response mentioned in an announcement on Sunday the measure would take impact from 11:59pm (22:59 GMT) on Monday and can be evaluated frequently to make “changes if needed”.
“The choice has been taken due to the fast unfold of the brand new COVID variant, Omicron, specifically in Europe and Africa, and so as … to guard the well being of Moroccan residents,” it mentioned.
The announcement got here hours after Israel said it will be closing its borders to overseas vacationers from Sunday night over Omicron.
The variant was first detected in South Africa, with circumstances reported in a number of international locations, prompting nations to reimpose journey curbs that many had hoped have been a factor of the previous.
Morocco, whose economic system depends closely on tourism, had introduced on Friday a ban on entry to travellers from South Africa and 6 different African nations.
It had already determined to droop flights to and from France amid a spike in coronavirus infections in Europe.
France has the world’s largest Moroccan expatriate group, with a couple of million Moroccans dwelling within the European Union member state.
In October, Morocco mentioned it was suspending flights to and from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia attributable to issues about coronavirus developments in these international locations.
Morocco has formally recorded about 950,000 coronavirus circumstances and greater than 14,700 deaths.
Earlier this month, the North African kingdom lifted a nighttime curfew imposed months earlier to curb the unfold of COVID-19.
