Morocco suspends UK, Germany, Netherlands flights
Morocco government on Wednesday announced that it is suspending flights from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands until further notice.
Morocco national carrier Royal Air Maroc in a tweet said the move to stop flights from the European countries was due to “the pandemic situation”.
The new restriction takes effect before midnight Wednesday, the Morocco airports authority said.
Morocco’s Health Ministry on Monday warned of the threat of a new virus surge, saying there is “the need to avoid possible a relapse of serious and critical cases and COVID-19-related deaths, which have occurred in several European countries.”
Consequently, Germany’s foreign ministry urged citizens in Morocco to immediately contact their travel company due to the imminent halt in flights.
The United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands are currently experiencing a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.
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While the UK government urged millions to get fully vaccinated, it recorded almost 50,000 new infections in a single day this week.
Dutch carrier Transavia said it is negotiating whether it could get clearance to fly beyond the midnight cutoff to pick up stranded passengers from Morocco.
Morocco government said it had started administering booster vaccine shots, and will also introduce a COVID-19 vaccine pass as a mandatory requirement for access to public venues and travel. The decision takes effect Thursday.
Morocco Health Ministry puts the country’s COVID-19 cases at 942,000 with 14,000 death. Morocco has Africa’s highest vaccination rate, with more than 50% of the population fully vaccinated.
