(Adding new travel ban)
Rabat, Jan 18 (Reuters) – The Moroccan health ministry on Monday confirmed the first introduced case of the more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus first discovered in the UK.
The variant was found in the northern port of Tangier in a Moroccan country returning from Ireland via Marseille, the ministry said in a statement.
On Monday, the foreign ministry said travelers from Australia, Brazil, Ireland and New Zealand will not be allowed into the country. Morocco has suspended flights arriving from the UK since late December in a bid to protect against further spread of the virus.
Morocco has announced plans to launch a free vaccination campaign targeting 25 million people, or 80% of their population.
The country ordered 66 million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc and Sinopharm in China. He hasn’t got any yet.
On December. 23, Morocco sent a four-week curfew across the country between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am for the presence of a virus.
On Monday, the country said it had registered 460,144 coronavirus infections including 7,977 deaths and 16,481 active cases.
Health experts have raised concerns about new communicable mutations of the virus that were first reported in the UK and South Africa and are now growing in several other countries. The third new version was reported in Brazil. (Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi Editing by Bill Berkrot)