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Morocco lifts flight ban, but visitors need third Covid vaccine shot
Morocco on Tuesday newrules forresidents and tourists arrivingfrom abroad, after a two-month ban on passenger flights intothe kingdom due to the spread of .
The new measures are to be implementedon7 February as continues to "manage... a public health emergency", the government said in a statement.
The measures require travellers arriving inMorocco to present a vaccination pass and a negative PCR test taken less than 48 hours before boarding the plane. Passengers will also undergo rapid tests upon arrival at Morocco’s airports.
The government statement did not specify if the required full vaccination status includes the third jab.
However, a member of thegovernmental committee in charge of pandemic-related recommendationstold that travellerswho got the second shot more than four months before their scheduled flight must present proof of a booster shot.
“For those who got Covid after their second shot, so they weren't able to get their third jab at the time, they will be required to present a certificate that proves their situation,”Said Afif told.
The booster shot requirement frustrated many Moroccans and foreigners, who had hoped that thedecision to open borders would bring an end to their travel limbo.
“We were happy that we will be finally able to go back to Morocco to take care of our business, but with the new restrictions, I and my husband will not be able to do that,"Julien, a French woman running a tourismbusiness in Morocco told .
"We just got our second shot, and now we need to wait four more months.Morocco'sborders might be closed again by then."
Najlae, a Moroccan student living in France, has not yet had the booster shot.
“I cannot see my family because my country has another absurd requirement,”she told .
Morocco at the end of November last year, when the highly contagious Covid-19 variantOmicron emerged.
The decision left many Moroccan and foreign residentsstranded abroad, away from their jobs and families.A few from Turkey, Portugal, and the UAE broughtsome of them home.
Morocco the vaccine pass in public and private places in October last year.
The government on citizens in Decemberto get their booster shots fourmonths after their second jab, so that a “new, valid vaccine pass” could be issued.
The health ministry a mobile phone applicationto enable security guards and authorities in public and private places to check the validity of citizens’ vaccine passes.
Despite the mandate, only of the population has received a booster jab. Just under 63 percent of Moroccans have hadtwo vaccine doses.
The health ministry, which aims to a vaccination rate of 80 percentto achieve herd immunity, has blamed spread throughsocial media forMoroccans’ reluctance to get vaccinated.