Morocco’s Ministry of Health today announced 22 new cases of COVID-19. The latest figure brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 676.
Morocco has recorded 39 deaths during the novel coronavirus pandemic, however 29 people have recovered.
Health authorities continue to test as many suspected cases as possible, as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that early testing could save lives and curb the spread of the pandemic.
The latest jump in the number of cases in Morocco comes as the WHO warns the number of cases globally could reach one million in the coming days.
On April 1, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said the pandemic has already left more than 45,000 dead, while 900,000 have contracted COVID-19.
He told governments to prepare for an exponential rise in cases in the coming days and weeks: “In the next few days we will reach 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 50 thousand deaths.”
The director-general also spoke about the use of medical masks, recommending that only medical staff treating patients with COVID-19 and patients who have already contracted the virus use them.
“Masks are only effective when combined with other protective measures,” he explained.
With the latest statistics from the Moroccan government, the number of COVID-19 cases in North Africa has reached 2,587, according to statistics from the African Union (AU) Center for Disease Control (CDC).
The region is already the hardest hit area in Africa. Egypt has a total of 779 cases, while Algeria has reported 716.
Tunisia has the lowest number of confirmed cases in North Africa, with 423.
In total, AU member states have reported 6,213 confirmed cases of the virus. Since the start of the pandemic, 221 people have died after contracting the virus.