Morocco wants to ban the most contagious variants of the Coronavirus, such as the British alternative and South Africa, by stopping air traffic. “The situation in Morocco is actually improving a lot,” explains Lott van den Bogaert in “The Morning”. “And they try in every possible way to eliminate these variables.”
The measure was not really surprising, as air traffic with other nations had already been halted. Belgium is already the thirteenth country with which Morocco suspends air traffic. Flights to and from Italy will also be suspended, according to Moroccan news site Le360, which published news about the Belgian flights. Flights with the United Kingdom, South Africa and Denmark were suspended in December. On January 19, Morocco also banned all flights to and from Australia, Brazil, Ireland and New Zealand. Last week, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey were added to the list.
But the timing was a surprise. The measure wasn’t announced until late last night and went into effect almost immediately. At Brussels airport, around 50 flights per week are affected by the flight bans from Air Arabia, Royal Air Maroc and TOY. TUI had a flight to Morocco this morning and in extreme cases had to send a message to the travelers last night warning them that the trip could not take place.
