Three new deaths were reported between 6 p.m. of Friday, March 27 and 6 p.m. of this Saturday, bringing to 24 the total number of fatalities in Morocco due to Covid-19, said Mouad El Mourabit, coordinator of the national Center for emergency operations in public Health in a statement broadcast by MAP on its channel M24 and RIM RADIO.

 El Mourabit noted that six cases of death were recorded in the Casablanca-Settat region, five in Marrakech-Safi, four in Rabat-Salé-Kenitra and three in Fez-Meknes. The Eastern and Souss-Massa regions each recorded two fatalities, while one death occurred in Beni Mellal-Khenifra and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.

In addition, the total number of cases excluded after negative results of analyses carried out in the laboratory amounts to 1,461, he noted, stressing that these figures remain provisional pending the results of the analyses carried out by the reference laboratories, which will be made public in the next few hours on the ministry's website.

In terms of geographical distribution of confirmed cases, the Casablanca-Settat region recorded 107 cases of coronavirus and the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region 64 cases, followed by Fez-Meknes with 63, Marrakech-Safi (62), Tangier-Tetouan-El Hoceima (23), the Eastern region (13), Souss-Massa (11), Beni Mellal-Khénifra (10), Drâa-Tafilalet (05) and Guelmim-Oud Noun (01). The regions of Laâyoune-Sakia-Hamra and Dakhla-Oud Eddahab remain unharmed.

The official also indicated that women accounted for 42 per cent of cases and men for 58 per cent, adding that the deceased had an average age of 66 years, all suffering from chronic or serious illnesses, and had been evacuated to hospital in a critical condition.

With regard to the distribution of cases according to their origin, El Mourabit said that the percentage of local contamination had risen to 59% of the total number of cases, compared with 41% for imported ones.

 In terms of the clinical status of patients currently on treatment, he said that 13% of them are currently symptom-free, 72% have mild or moderate symptoms, 9% are in a severe condition and six are in a critical state.