Miryam Nazih. Morocco
31/03/2020
I am Miryam. I am 25 years old, and I live in Rabat-Morocco. I work as a Business Developer in a business matchmaking company, specialized in import-export.
My country registered its first Covid-19 case on March 2nd , in Casablanca. It was an imported case from Italy. Today, on March 26th , we have 275 registered cases (imported and local contamination).
When the first case was registered, I was quiet surprised to hear at the radio that the same night, a group of people gathered in front of the hospital where the patient was hospitalized. At the beginning, everyone was joking about the situation. Some were saying that people wanted to “meet the Covid-19” or that people didn’t believe in it “until they had the chance to see it”! Consequence: the Government did not communicate any more information regarding the new cases of Covid-19. Which was a great decision in my opinion.
In the following days, and observing more and more people infected by the virus, the global environment changed in the country. People stopped joking and started to take real volunteer measures to protect themselves: social distancing, masks, and gloves… We really started to realize the risks and the gravity of this virus.
Last Friday March 20th, the Moroccan Government declared a state of total containment effective from 6:00 pm. By this time, we had 66 registered cases. In fact, this initiative was really well welcomed by the population! At the time when other countries have unfortunately taken this measure only at stage 2 or 3 of the epidemic, Morocco has been applauded for its reactivity. Since this measure was urgent for our country because we really do not have the adequate equipment and abilities to face this epidemic…
At work, we decided to start teleworking since March 17th to reduce the risks.
Every member of my family telework too, except my dad who’s a surgeon, and who’s therefore mobilized to help during this crisis. My cousins are supposed to take class via an online platform, but it is very hard for parents to control and follow its application…
At the moment we don’t know anything about how things are going to evolve in the future, we cannot predict anything! As a worker in the import-export industry, I saw a brutal change in my activity flow and one thing is certain; every country is suffering from this epidemic (forced unemployment for some, dismissal for others).
Days go by but are never the same. Even if we strictly respect the rules of containment, there is always that fear when returning from the supermarket for example of “could I have caught the virus? Or contaminated someone if I am a carrier?” We live in constant uncertainty and we pray every day that this virus will stop spreading and that we finally leave this crisis behind…