The population that would be most at risk of hospitalization or death from the pandemic of the new Coronavirus (covid-19) is 8.4 million people, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Planning (HCP).
“These are the population aged 65 and over (2.6 million, including 1.7 million with at least one chronic disease) and the population aged under 65 with at least one chronic disease (5.8 million),” says the HCP, which has just published a study entitled “Pandemic Covid-19 in the national context: Situation and possible scenarios”.
The same source points out that the pandemic affects the population differently depending on age and the existence of a chronic disease, which leads to its spread according to this double indicator, adding that it is also important to distinguish the population engaged in the economy represented by the employed workforce.
With nearly 36 million inhabitants, the population in Morocco is relatively young, with an average age of 31.9 years and composed of 7.4 per cent of individuals aged 65 and over, HCP reports, noting that the employed active population amounts to 10.7 million individuals.
” However, if we limit ourselves to the 15-64 age group, 18.6 million individuals with no chronic disease and are considered at lower risk,” it points out, estimating that among the 10.5 million employed workers under the age of 65, 7.9 million have no chronic disease.
Furthermore, the HCP recalls that as soon as the first confirmed case of Covid-19 was registered in Morocco (2 March), a series of measures were gradually introduced, the main ones being the closure of borders and schools, but also a large confinement of the population accompanied by rules of social distancing and hygiene.
This has been essential to slow the spread of the disease. Without these measures, the spread would have been huge enough to reach a possible collective immunity, and would also have made a devastating impact on both the number of infections and the level of human loses.
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