Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Face Masks Must Be Worn - But where are they?

Morocco has made wearing face masks mandatory starting today (Tuesday) for anyone allowed to go out during the coronavirus outbreak. But masks are hard to find in the Fez Medina


The masks will be sold at a subsidised price of 0.8 dirhams ($0.08) per unit. Those who fail to comply face prison sentences of up to three months and a fine of up to 1,300 dirhams, the government said in a statement on Monday. The price appears to be being flouted with some outlets selling masks for 3 dirhams each.

Morocco plans to increase its daily mask production capacity to near 6 million next week from 3.3 million currently,

Self-isolation, social distancing are a luxury that poor families can't afford and where are all the masks? But, even if they could afford to buy masks they are finding them hard to buy as a lot of outlets have no masks at all. Some shops claim that the masks are "coming", but had no idea when.


A quick walk through the souk in R'cif searching for face masks was in vain. Five small shops and the local pharmacy all claimed to have none in stock and no idea when and where they could buy them. A majority of people on the streets were without masks. A few people had scarves over their mouths, but from a realistic point of view, these offer little or no protection.

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