MOROCCO ANNOUNCES THE FIRST RECORDED DEATH FROM THE EMERGING CORONA VIRUS

The Ministry of Health announces to public opinion that the second case in which it was registered with the COVID-19 virus in the city of Casablanca has passed away this morning, Tuesday March 10 2020 at 12:45. The matter is related to the woman's age she's 89 years old and she was suffering from chronic diseases of the respiratory system, heart, arteries and other diseases. After recording the first death from corona virus in Morocco, the Epidemiology Directorate held a clarifying press meeting the same day, in its headquarters in the capital Rabat. Muhammad Al-Youbi director of epidemics at the Ministry of Health, said that the elderly woman who had been announced as a second case had died after her critical condition. He added that the woman died despite the efforts of the medical staff, which is composed of professors from the Faculty of Medicine from a group of specialties due to the fact that she suffers from several diseases in addition to the age factor.
Al-Youbi expressed  his condolences to the deceased's family and asked them to deal positively with the isolation measures recommended by the Ministry and the health authorities in Casablanca, he hoped also that the community would deal positively with them due to their exposure to loss and isolation conditions. The director of epidemics at the Ministry of Health explained that the conditions of the late burial will take place in accordance with Islamic rites, with preventive measures being taken in response to a question regarding the way in which they are buried in order to fear infection even after death.
As for the third recorded case announced on Tuesday morning, Al-Youbi said that it related to a 52 years old French tourist from Paris, who is now following his treatment in a hospital in Marrakech City and that it is being checked that he's not in contact with others and that they are infected. The director of epidemics said that the French tourist who was confirmed infected with the new Corona virus will be applied to all the measures being taken according to the national plan to address Corona knowing that his health condition is good. The same speaker also explained that the young man who was the first confirmed case of corona virus in Morocco, was in good health and recovering.

THIS IS HOW THE LABORATORY OF THE "PASTEUR INSTITUTE" CONDUCTS TESTS FOR INFECTION WITH  "CORONA VIRUS".

The detection of the new corona virus can only be done through laboratory tests, in Morocco there are only two labs that can perform this examination: THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE is the most prominent. The process of conducting laboratory analyzes of one of the samples arrived at by the Pasteur institute, which is carried out twice by two experts in order to ensure that the results are accurate, In this context Abdel Rahman Maaroufi director of the Pasteur Institute in Morocco, says that the institute has conducted between 70 and 80 percent of the tests that concern the Corona Virus in Morocco, stressing that Pasteur is responsible for samples coming from the southern half of Morocco, while the national institue of Health in Rabat sponsors samples, coming from the side of Rabat, Kenitra and the northern half of the country.

Maaroufi explained that laboratory confirmation of the disease is one of the most important bases for diagnosis and this is done in the laboratory of virology at the Pasteur Institute which operates 24/7, the director of Pasteur Institute explained the details of the process saying: In case of suspicion of an infection or some symptoms, the vigilance cell and epidemiological surveillance are contacted and the cell works to ensure that the symptoms match  the same symptoms as the suspected Corona Virus cases, after confirmation the person is isolated and the institute is contacted for information with a suspected case. Maaroufi added: The next step is related to taking a sample from the patient and this is done in isolation rooms, it's either from the nose or throat and it's transported by an ambulance that respects the criteria for transporting biological samples. The spokesman confirmed that there is a special team receiving samples at the virology laboratory at the Pasteur institute, consisting of eight people working bilaterally in order to verify the laboratory results, nothing that when the result is know the vigilance cell that sent us the sample is informed of this. He added: these analyzes enable us to know whether the sample carries the genes of the virus and the technology used is called PCR, which is one of the best virus detection technologies, it has developed since the beginning of the virus and therefore its elements are new and take 4 to 5 hours to verify the results. The same professor pointed out that the Pasteur Institute belongs to the global network of the 33 Pasteur Institutes around the world, the role of this network is to facilitate the process of communication, cooperation and exchange of experiences and opinions, whether with regard to combating epidemics or fighting other diseases. The process followed when detecting the presence of the virus is the same as that followed before announcing the patient's symmetry for recovery, this can only be confirmed after laboratory tests have been performed, according to the director of the Pasteur Institute who said: we choose twice to make sure that the patient is cured, we conduct the first analysis and if its result is negative we repeat the analysis again to confirm 100% that the patient has recovered.