These measures have been taken in view of the continuing spread of the coronavirus epidemic, in accordance with the preventive measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which all countries are called upon to take at the national level, the ministry says in a statement.

They are also taken in application of the Quranic verse "And do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction" as well as the Hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, reported by Al-Bukhari: "If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place."

For all these reasons, the Moroccan authorities call on Moroccan citizens to respect these measures and to respond favourably to them, the statement concludes.