COVID-19 - Morocco Master Thread

[vrecha]

Writing here as it will maybe be useful for other travellers ...


Entered Morocco yesterday.
Ferry GNV: Genoa --> Tanger Med
Nominaly 48h, we arrived in 42h.
Before embarking in Genoa, medical stuff inspected PCR tests in some detail, some vehicles turned back.
There were less than one sixth of the usual number of passengers.

Morocco customs quick and efficient, they looked only for hotel reservation (we had printed page from booking.com - ok, accepted), no one looked at the PCR test.


Once inside, the situation is quite relaxed, don't know about the big cities as we avoid them.


Heading south (while keeping as east as possible).

[hav]

Any relationship or questions between the total nights on your hotel reservation and the total time they granted for your vehicle to be in Morocco?

[TheWarden]

No they are 2 separate issues.

Normally a vehicle is allowed 180 days in a calendar year. This year they allowed vehicles to overstay to the end of 2020 but no news on what will happen in 2021 yet

[hav]

Originally Posted by TheWarden

No they are 2 separate issues.

Normally a vehicle is allowed 180 days in a calendar year. This year they allowed vehicles to overstay to the end of 2020 but no news on what will happen in 2021 yet

Understood. Just wondering about the visual conflict of evidence between a long term vehicle like a camper or overlander and a short term hotel reservation from Booking.com ....

[TheWarden]

From people who travelled to Morocco recently there seems to be no correlation, just a booking seems to be enough.

Vrecha, who posted above, is the most recent person I know who has gone in a vehicle.

[vrecha]

Originally Posted by hav

Any relationship or questions between the total nights on your hotel reservation and the total time they granted for your vehicle to be in Morocco?

None (so far). The police control at the border only looked at the internet if the hotel exists. No questions asked. The road controls just wave you through.



So far haven't met or seen any other tourists, even in cities like Midelt, Errachidia, Zagora and on the main roads betwen them. The places that once thrived with tourism to the point that I was absolutely avoiding them are mostly like ghost towns. Unbelievable. Eastern parts north of the Atlas seems to have more or less usual life and vibe, though.

[hav]

Originally Posted by vrecha

None (so far). The police control at the border only looked at the internet if the hotel exists. No questions asked. The road controls just wave you through.



So far haven't met or seen any other tourists, even in cities like Midelt, Errachidia, Zagora and on the main roads betwen them. The places that once thrived with tourism to the point that I was absolutely avoiding them are mostly like ghost towns. Unbelievable. Eastern parts north of the Atlas seems to have more or less usual life and vibe, though.

Thanks for your update, much appreciated. How many days was the reservation you presented?

[vrecha]

How many days was the reservation you presented?

14 days. Nobody payed any real attention. Only one gendarme so far wanted to see "the autorisation paper" (that's how they call the print of the hotel reservation). He noticed the "expiration date" and asked me how long we intend to stay in Morocco. I'm quite open about this with officials, so as usual I said "few months, if possible." No problems with this.


Spoke yesterday with the keeper of the "camping" at Oued Noun. Always so packed I didn't bother stopping, now empty. He said we are the third foreigners he saw since March. Two before us were heading North when the Mauri border reopened.


Can't wait to see the spots around Dakhla.

[badou24]

Did you fly or drive to Maroc ?

[Tim Cullis]

Chinese lab CNBG SinoPharm (not be be confused with Sinovac) has filed for regulatory approval of one of the vaccines it has developed. Morocco was one of the countries participating in the SinoPharm third phase clinical trials and received the result of the Moroccan phase of the trials a couple of weeks ago.

EDIT: Much of what is written below (now coloured grey) was hot air and the vaccination programme never came to fruition in 2020. Will update further once more reliable information is available.

The government has now announced its vaccination campaign is due to start Friday 4 December using the SinoPharm and other vaccines. The plan is to vaccinate 80% of the adult Moroccan population—which would be 24 million people—and to complete the campaign by the end of February 2021.

Morocco's Ministry of the Interior will establish lists of beneficiaries for the first phase of vaccination and it is reported that this will include people over 65, pregnant women, those with chronic diseases, as well as key workers such as the medical, educational, public transport and law enforcement fields.

The initial vaccination target is 200,000 per day but this would have to be ramped up dramatically as two vaccinations are required per person, 21 days apart. To vaccinate 24 million people in 12 weeks would therefore involve over 500,000 vaccinations per day. More than 5,000 nurses and other trained people will carry out the vaccinations.

10 million doses of SinoPharm vaccine (enough for 5 million people) have already been airlifted to Morocco. Another 20 million doses are on order with AstraZeneca, and additional supplies are being secured from BioNtech, Sputnik and others.

______________________________

Morocco will start the manufacture, under licence, of the SinoPharm vaccine from a new biotechnology facility in Tanger. Morocco's Galenica Labs is also discussing manufacturing the Russian Sputnik V vaccine under licence for distribution throughout Africa.

For comparison purposes, assuming regulatory approval is quickly given and supplies are in place, the UK plan is to start vaccinations about a week behind the Moroccan date and to complete by mid April. EDIT: And yes, this may also prove to be optimistic.

.

[barrier911]

Excellent information, thank you.

We’re looking to take 5 motorcycles to Morocco in January and I’d be interested to hear further updates from you as your trip progresses.
We traveled down through Western Sahara earlier this year and made it to Dakar. That’s obviously out of the question for the foreseeable future.

Originally Posted by vrecha

Writing here as it will maybe be useful for other travellers ...


Entered Morocco yesterday.
Ferry GNV: Genoa --> Tanger Med
Nominaly 48h, we arrived in 42h.
Before embarking in Genoa, medical stuff inspected PCR tests in some detail, some vehicles turned back.
There were less than one sixth of the usual number of passengers.

Morocco customs quick and efficient, they looked only for hotel reservation (we had printed page from booking.com - ok, accepted), no one looked at the PCR test.


Once inside, the situation is quite relaxed, don't know about the big cities as we avoid them.


Heading south (while keeping as east as possible).