Romania’s foreign ministry confirmed 72 Romanian nationals are stuck in Morocco after the Omicron variant of Covid-19 led to travel restrictions.
On Sunday, Morocco announced it had suspended all incoming flights for two weeks due to the new Covid-19 Omicron variant.
The ministry said it was dealing with 72 Romanians stranded there. They created a group on Facebook and estimated there was at least 50 Romanians in the same situation.
Romania’s embassy in Morocco told Romanians who were having difficulty getting out of Morocco to contact the embassy there.
“The embassy in Rabat is handling the cases of 72 Romanians, whose flights were canceled by airlines where they had reservations.”
The embassy is working to urgently identify alternate flights back to Bucharest, a statement said.
“It is in permanent dialogue with Romanians who are affected and is giving them consular assistance,”
The foreign ministry “recommends that Romanians whose flights were canceled to check the availability of flights of airlines that are still operating in Morocco.
It said Air France and Transavia, a Dutch low-cost airline still had flights.
Romania has already evacuated dozens of Europeans stranded in South Africa after flights were suspended.
A repatriation plane left Bucharest on Monday morning to bring home 40 Romanian citizens who are trapped in the area. The also offered to carry 50 Europeans, the head of Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat said.
The recent discovery of Omicron has sparked worries around the world that it could resist vaccinations and prolong the nearly two-year-old Covid-19 pandemic.
Romania’s foreign ministry said 36 nationals including the Romanian rugby team were stuck in South Africa after the EU halted air travel from southern African.
The new concerning strain of Covid was detected by scientists in South Africa on Thursday.
