Presenting the decree-law before the Interior, Local Collectivities, Housing and City Policy Committee at the House of Representatives (lower house), the minister said the draft decree law will safeguard public health security across the national territory so as to serve the best interests of the country and will provide the means to deal with determination and abnegation to stop the spread of the pandemic.

The project is part of the precautionary measures taken urgently and which commit public authorities, in accordance with article 21 of the Constitution, to safeguard the security of the population across the national territory, within the framework of respect for human rights and freedoms, he added.

This project represents the legal framework for public authorities in order to take all adequate and necessary measures and to declare a health emergency in any region, prefecture, province or commune, or throughout the whole national territory if necessary, whenever the security of people is threatened by an epidemic or contagious disease, Laftit explained.

During this period, public authorities can take all the necessary measures, through decrees, administrative decisions, circulars or even press releases, with the aim of an immediate and urgent intervention to counter any possible development of the epidemiological situation as well as for the mobilization of all available means to preserve people's lives and ensure their security, he added.

Under this draft law, any violation of the instructions and decisions by the public authorities is punishable by one to three months' imprisonment and a fine ranging from 300 to 1,300 dirhams or one of the two penalties, without prejudice to the heaviest criminal penalty.