Warnings increased about the "destructive" effects of the stone on children in Morocco and the feeling of "anxiety" and suffering from "boredom", especially after the extension of the isolation measures imposed since March Again, in and around the major cities.
In a letter to the Ministry of Health, the Moroccan Association of Pediatricians warned of the "devastating effects of the stone on children", the day after the authorities announced on June 9 that the state of health emergency would last another month with the stone being extended in major cities and gradually eased in other areas.
The message, which resonated widely in the local media, called for the "psychological impact and anxiety of the stone to be taken into account", calling for "measures to be taken to mitigate it for the benefit of children by enabling them to leave while respecting the procedures for social separation."
"We are not against quarantine or preventive measures from Covid-19, but we ask that it be reduced to enable children to go out one to three hours a day, especially since roaming in the open air does not involve significant risks," Hassan Availal, president of this professional association, told AFP.
He adds, warning that the continued imposition of stone on children can cause them "behavioral disorders" and "sleep disorders" and make them vulnerable to "bouts of anger", as well as "potential psychological scars."
And the testimonies of mothers and fathers passed on social media after the transmission of this message, expressing the suffering of their children from the continuation of the stone, after spending more than two and a half months trapped in the homes.
One of the mothers spoke of the "great disappointment" that her son suffered "after he eagerly hoped to raise the stone on June 10, I could no longer find the words appropriate for his sympathy." He is depressed, crying all the time, and suffers from chronic headache. "
"Our 8-year-old daughter is going out for the first time since mid-March to an ophthalmologist clinic that has been tired of smartphone addiction all along the way," housewife Siham Rashidi told AFP.
Movement remains within most of the major Moroccan cities and their surroundings where the extension of the stone is forbidden, except under licenses in specific cases such as going to work, under penalty of penalties for violators that may reach 3 months in prison or a fine of about $ 130.
This prohibition applies to children without exceptional mobility licenses including going out to exercise or wandering in public places, parks or beaches that are still closed.
The kingdom, which has threatened 35 million people, remains relatively untouched by the pandemic, which has so far resulted in 212 deaths out of less than 9,000 injuries.
Siham Rashidi, a mother of two children residing in an apartment in Rabat, said, "The children initially received the stone with pleasure, as they stopped going to school, but boredom began to control them and they are now under pressure."
"My daughter is approaching her third year and needs to waste her energy in order to be able to sleep, she made great efforts with her mother to entertain her inside the house, but she could not bear it and demanded that we go out to the beach or the zoo," said actor Rashid Al-Adwani, whom AFP encountered in the center of the capital.
Police checkpoints remain in the streets of the capital, although life has gradually begun to restore its normal rhythm with greater tolerance for pedestrians in recent days.
The authorities promised to accelerate the gradual easing of the stone from June 20, while allowing "easier and broader mobility" and the resumption of cultural activities, Prime Minister Saadeddin al-Othmani said on Tuesday.
A formal study showed in late May that half of Moroccan families were concerned about the stone.
