Morocco to suspend flights to France because of rising coronavirus infections

Morocco will suspend regular flights to and from France beginning late Friday because of rising coronavirus cases, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

The suspension will take effect at midnight Nov. 26 until further notice.

The ministry said the decision to temporarily halt flights was made by an inter-ministerial committee "to preserve Morocco's achievements in terms of management of the Covid-19 pandemic and to deal with the deterioration of the health situation in some European countries."

Cases have ramped up in recent weeks in France, registering 33,464 new cases Thursday. The government announced new measures to curb the effect of the fifth wave.

France and Morocco share close ties. The decision is likely to hit hard those who traverse regularly between the two countries.

More than 1.3 million people from Morocco live in France and nearly 80,000 French nationals live in the north African country.