Covid-19: Morocco's Response is Guided by Royal Vision Based on Anticipation, Proactivity and Primacy of Citizens' Health

Covid-19: Morocco's Response is Guided by Royal Vision Based on Anticipation, Proactivity and Primacy of Citizens' Health

 

Morocco's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is guided by a Royal Vision based on the pillars of anticipation, proactivity and the primacy of the health of citizens, said Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad Nasser Bourita.


In a speech, on the 1st of July 2020, to the ministerial conference on the digital response to the Covid-19, Mr. Bourita added that this Royal Vision is implemented through an approach associating all the ministerial departments and all the segments of society, noting that this approach was successful in bringing the epidemiological situation under control.


The Minister also noted that the digital transformation under way in Morocco was crucial to the success of this strategy, since the Kingdom quickly deployed its digital infrastructure to meet the challenge of disseminating accurate, timely and consistent public health messages which incited 99.5% of the Moroccan population to massively adopt preventive measures.


He also indicated that the fake news have been curbed from the start, thanks to an effective fight against disinformation, while protecting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, saying that the national police had set up a unit specifically dedicated to surveillance and the investigation of cases of online disinformation, while judicial investigations have been launched in 100 cases of disinformation.


The Minister also noted that essential public services have been largely preserved, citing education, through digital platforms and online courses and the justice sector, thanks to the holding of videoconference trials in full respect of national and international standards of justice, as well as health, thanks to the intensive use of telehealth.


In public institutions and in the private sector, a major effort to digitize has been undertaken in order to guarantee the continuity of services through remote work, he said, adding that this pandemic, which has ravaged societies, health systems, and economies, is a real test of the ability of multilateralism to innovate and think outside the box in the search for solutions to questions posed by COVID-19.


Basically, the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on States three interdependent challenges by curbing transmission through quarantine and other measures of social distancing, said the Minister, adding that it also concerns the upgrading of their health systems to cope with a rapid influx of COVID-19 patients, while maintaining adequate capacity to manage other diseases; as well as the preservation of essential services as education, sanitation, energy, justice, and the police.


Digital tools were crucial to managing these challenges, demonstrating the importance of accelerating digital transformation for emergency preparedness and response, he argued, saying that the fake news that has spread like wildfire in the cyberspace was as serious as the disease itself.


The Minister gave a statement to the Ministerial Conference on the Digital Response to COVID-19 organized by Estonia and Singapore with the aim of exploring ways of strengthening the resilience of societies through the use of innovative and flexible digital technologies.


This Conference was organized by Estonia and Singapore as co-Chairs of the Group of Friends on Electronic Governance and Cybersecurity, of which Morocco is a Member.

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