London, Feb. 8, 2021 (AltAfrica)-Morocco’s Ministry of Health said the country has vaccinated 463,966  people against COVID-19 as of February 7, thereby leading vaccine rollout on the continent

Egypt began the vaccination of medical staff on Jan 25 with the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine prioritizing mainly teachers, doctors, and security officers, as well people at particular risk of infection.

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Algeria, Seychelles , Mauritius have all joined the vaccination drive starting mostly with health care workers, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

Morocco’s vaccine rollout is by far ahead of others targeting 33 million within Morocco’s population to secure a herd immunization against the pandemic. 

The total cases of COVID-19 reached 475,355 after the Ministry of Health confirmed 389 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Morocco’s death toll related to COVID-19 cases climbed to 8,394 after 13 new patients died.

The number of active cases reached 12,457, including 593 in critical condition.

The number of recoveries reached 454, 504. Today, the ministry confirmed that 583 new patients recovered. 

The region of Casablanca-Settat recorded 126 new cases and seven deaths, while Oriental confirmed 65 new infections and one new fatality.

The Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region recorded 62 new infections and one COVID-19-related death, while the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima confirmed 52 cases and one death.

The Souss-Massa region followed with 32 cases, followed by Marrakech-Safi (20 cases), Laayoune-Sakia-El Hamr reported 10 cases.

Dakhla Oued Eddahab reported eight cases, followed by Daraa-Tafilalet (five cases, two deaths), Fez-Meknes (five cases, one deth), Guelmim-Oued Noun (three cases), and Beni Mellal-Khenifra (one case);

A provisional 270 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been secured by the African Union (AU) for distribution across the continent.

All of the doses will be used this year, promises current AU head South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This is on top of 600 million doses already promised but is still not enough to vaccinate the whole region.

There are fears that poorer countries globally will wait far longer than richer nations to be inoculated.

Although infection numbers and death rates are comparatively lower across most of Africa, cases are spiking again in some areas.

A new variant of Covid-19 in South Africa is causing particular alarm and makes up most of the new cases.