A Squamish couple is worried they may be stranded in Morocco, as the country has enacted a sweeping ban on airplane traffic in the face of COVID-19.
Andrew Platt and his partner, Leigh Taveroff, left for Morocco on March 10 on vacation. There were no travel restrictions at the time.
The couple spent a few days in Marrakech and then headed out to the desert for three days. When they arrived back from that area, they went online to see what was going on.
"It was like, 'Holy Cow,' the country just went on lockdown," he said. "We didn't expect any of it to be like this. We thought if anything was going to happen, the Canadian government would say, 'OK you've got like, five days to get back to Canada.' We did not expect the Moroccan government to shut their airports."
In addition to the flight ban, Morocco has shut down its mosques, eateries and entertainment venues in response to the virus, according to Al Jazeera.
A Morocco World News report on March 17 said there were 44 cases of the virus in the country. This includes two deaths and one person who has recovered.
On Sunday, the Canadian embassy tweeted the Moroccan government declared it would ban all flights to and from its territory until further notice. However, "limited" flights departing from Morocco are still available through Thursday.
The embassy advised the best way to get back to Canada was to hop on a plane and make a connector through a third country.
So that's what Platt and his partner did. They booked a flight for Thursday to the U.K., and they plan on flying to Canada from there.
But Platt's worried. The messaging he's heard hasn't been clear if flights will be shut down Thursday or if all scheduled flights for that day will be allowed to go through.
"Literally, in the last hour, the Moroccan government has told us that they're not allowing any flights to leave...on Thursday, so, right now, we're in limbo again," said Platt on March 17.
Taveroff expressed concern the frenzy to leave is creating more opportunities for the virus to spread.
"There's a lot of Canadian citizens who need to get home more than we do, and the problem that's happening now is everyone flocking to the airports," she said. "That includes elderly and young children."
Global Affairs Canada said in a written statement to The Chief that the government is aware of the situation in Morocco.
"I can assure you that we are doing everything to provide assistance under these unprecedented circumstances," said spokesperson Angela Savard.
"Limited flights departing from Morocco are currently still available and may be offered on some airlines later this week. We are actively doing all we can to assist Canadians currently in the country."
She said that Canadians in need of emergency consular assistance in Morocco can contact the embassy.
Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that emergency $5,000 loans would be made available to those who need help buying tickets home, or for those stranded in need of extra cash.
However, in Platt's situation, money isn't the concern — the ability to get home is.
"The Canadian government just needs to let Canadians know what the plan is, if they have any plan, so we can rest easy," he said.
