MOROCCO, December 22 - The Ministry of Health and Social Protection underlined on Tuesday the role of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in preventing any deterioration of the epidemiological situation, amid an international context marked by the upsurge of Omicron variant cases.

Presenting the bimonthly COVID-19 situation in Morocco, the coordinator of the Ministry's National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations, Mouad Mrabet, stressed that the effectiveness of the vaccine has greatly contributed to avoiding an epidemiological relapse during the past two weeks, with a stable fatality rate despite the increase in COVID-19 cases.

Mr. Mrabet mentioned, in this regard, a 50% increase in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, against a stagnation of the fatality rate and cases admitted to intensive care units.

According to him, 1,332 cases were recorded last week, which corresponds to the most important toll during the intermediate phase following the Delta wave.

On a weekly basis, the positivity rate increased from 1.4% to 1.61% during the last week, he said.

Cases admitted into intensive care units have stagnated with 100 cases on average, according to the ministry, which also notes that 13 fatalities were recorded during the last week, a slight increase (+5) compared to the week before.

The reproduction rate stood at 1.20 due to the increase in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, the same source said.

In addition, the national vaccination campaign has seen a slight evolution, with a rate of first-time vaccines established at 67.20%, against 62.6% for the second dose and 6.6% for the third one.

The ministry urges all citizens to comply with the preventive measures in force and take part in the national vaccination campaign.

MAP 21 December 2021