Morocco to keep covid night curfew in place in Ramadan

Morocco will keep its nightly curfew in place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when people gather after breaking their fast at sunset, Reuters reported the government announcing today.

The decision to keep the 8pm-6am curfew will hurt restaurants, shops, and markets that make most of their money in the evenings, especially during Ramadan, which this year is expected to begin on 13 April and run through to 12 May. Moroccan law prohibits public eating by day during the fasting period.

Morocco will also maintain until June financial aid for workers in some of sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic including tourism.

READ: Morocco starts vaccinating people aged 65+

The North African kingdom has confirmed almost half a million cases of COVID-19 and registered nearly 9,000 deaths from the global respiratory pandemic.

However, it has rolled out a vaccination campaign more rapidly than its neighbours, inoculating 4.38 million people with AstraZeneca and Sinopharm shots to date.