Is there a relationship between industrial clusters and the prevalence of COVID‐19 in the provinces of Morocco?

Boumahdi, Ilyes; Zaoujal, Nouzha; Fadlallah, Abdellali

The main objective of this paper is to verify if there is a relationship between industrial agglomeration and the prevalence of COVID‐19 and its diffusion within and between the provinces of Morocco. To do so, we used spatial exploratory analysis and spatial econometrics to show that the preponderance of industrial activity in a province has a significant effect on the number of active COVID‐19 cases in that province. On the other hand, we have shown that the spatial diffusion of this effect is not significant, which indicates the appropriateness of the lockdown implemented. We have also shown that age, socio‐economic deficits and habitat conditions are not significant determinants in the onset and spread of the pandemic.