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Monday 24 January 2022

COVID-19: Peak of Infections Was 'Very Likely' Reached Last Week (Official)

COVID-19: Peak of Infections Was 'Very Likely' Reached Last Week (Official)

The peak of infections was "very likely" reached the week of January 17 to 23, said on Monday the coordinator of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Mouad Merabet.

"Barring surprises, the peak of infections has been very likely reached; Omicron is less serious but not non-serious," underlined Mr. Merabet on his LinkedIn account in a brief comment on the COVID-19 situation.

He also warned that this peak will be followed by an increase in severe Covid-19 cases and deaths: "at least two difficult weeks await us in terms of severe, critical and mortality cases", he said.

The positivity rate at the national level stagnated for the second consecutive week at 24.4%, a decrease having been observed in the regions of Casablanca-Settat, Marrakech-Safi and Souss-Massa, he noted.

The COVID-19 reproduction rate is 0.98, he pointed out, adding that this indicator had been above 1 since November 21, 2021, i.e. 62 days, while new cases have increased only by 7%.

Thus, the level of transmission of COVID-19 is high throughout the national territory and all regions are at the "red level", according to Mr. Merabet, who noted that the Casablanca-Settat region passes this week from very high level to high level (the downward phase has already started in the region).

The risk of catching the disease is high, he warned, calling on everyone to be careful and wear the mask continuously, to ensure hand hygiene, to avoid gatherings and to respect safe distancing measures.

Mr. Merabet underlined that the national Covid-19 monitoring and surveillance data are consistent with international data.

"Omicron is less serious than Delta, but no one said that Omicron is of zero gravity: beware, the current wave is unfortunately underestimated!", he said.

Regarding the figures recorded by January 23, 2022, the official noted that the number of severe cases increased this week by 36.2% and deaths were multiplied by 2.4, while 730 new admissions in resuscitation and intensive care units were reported and 464 patients left the said services after the improvement of their health condition.

Mr. Merabet also pointed out that fatal errors led patients to resuscitation, some of whom died, in particular taking corticosteroids in the early phase of the disease, practicing sports, lack of hydration: Not drinking enough water, not respecting the therapeutic protocol and self-medication.

He also stressed that a "very big problem awaits us after COVID-19: antibiotic resistance, irrational excessive consumption, often not indicated".

The official recalled, in this regard, the three rules for getting out of the wave with the least damage: individual preventive measures, vaccination (in particular the booster dose) and compliance with the national therapeutic protocol.

MAP 24 January 2022