RABAT, Morocco: Morocco is suspending until further notice all flights to and from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands amid rising coronavirus infections in those countries.
The new restriction will come into force just before midnight Wednesday, the North African kingdom’s airports authority said.
In a tweet, national carrier Royal Air Maroc said the move was due to “the pandemic situation.” It did not provide further detail.
Morocco’s Health Ministry warned Monday of the threat of a new virus surge, stressing “the need to avoid possible a relapse of serious and critical cases and COVID-19-related deaths, which have occurred in several European countries.”
COVID-19 cases have been rising sharply in the Netherlands over the past two weeks and also are climbing in Germany.
The UK recorded almost 50,000 new infections in a single day this week. The chief executive of health care umbrella group, the NHS Confederation, said the health system risks being overwhelmed unless measures are introduced now, while the government urged millions get booster vaccine shots.
Germany’s foreign ministry urged citizens in Morocco to immediately contact their travel company due to the imminent halt in flights.
Dutch carrier Transavia said it was investigating whether it could get clearance to fly beyond the midnight cutoff “to pick up stranded passengers” from Morocco.
The World Health Organization said there was a 7 percent rise in new coronavirus cases across Europe last week, the only region in the world where cases increased.
Earlier this month, the Russian embassy in Rabat announced that commercial flights between the two countries had been suspended, citing a decision it had received from Moroccan authorities, but did not indicate the reason.
Morocco has Africa’s highest vaccination rate, with more than 50 percent of the population fully inoculated.
The government has also started administering booster vaccine shots, and said it is introducing a COVID-19 vaccine pass as a mandatory requirement for access to public venues and travel. The decision takes effect Thursday.
Overall, Morocco has registered more than 942,000 infections and 14,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Health Ministry.
Virus: Morocco suspending UK, Germany, Netherlands flights
https://arab.news/yugae
Virus: Morocco suspending UK, Germany, Netherlands flights
- The new restriction will come into force just before midnight Wednesday, the North African kingdom's airports authority said
- In a tweet, national carrier Royal Air Maroc said the move was due to “the pandemic situation”
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
