COVID-19: Nationwide curfew declared in Northern Africa country

The Moroccan government announced a nationwide curfew and other restrictive measures Monday, as it seeks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The curfew will be in place between the hours of 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) and 6:00 am and the new measures—also including a ban on parties and public gatherings—will all kick in for a three-week period from Wednesday, the government said in a statement reported by the official MAP news agency.  

Morocco has lately been detecting more than 2,000 coronavirus cases per day, while local media have reported a drop off in testing by the kingdom.  

The country has registered more than 418,000 coronavirus infections, including 7,000 deaths, according to the last official count.  

Authorities hope to begin a vaccination programme at the end of this year, with the aim of immunizing around 20 million people in three months, although they have yet to confirm a start date.