Morocco Halts France Flights amid Covid Spike

AFP 

Thursday 25 Nov 2021

Morocco has decided to suspend flights to and from France, where daily coronavirus infections are rising, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

"This decision will go into effect on November 26 at 23:59 pm (2259 GMT) and until further notice," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.

The number of daily new cases in France has skyrocketed in recent days, hitting a seven-month high of 32,591 on Wednesday.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday that Covid-19 booster shots would be made available to all adults from this weekend to counter the fifth wave of infections.

France has the world's largest Moroccan expatriate community, with more than one million Moroccans living in the EU member.

In October, Morocco said it was suspending flights to and from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia due to concerns about coronavirus trends in those countries.

And earlier this month, the North African country decided to tighten controls at its borders due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in Europe.

Morocco has officially recorded around 950,000 Covid-19 cases and more than 14,500 deaths.