King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Sunday pardoned more than 5,000 prisoners to prevent the new coronavirus from contaminating Moroccan prisons, the Justice Ministry announced.

The monarch “granted a pardon to 5,654 inmates and ordered to take all necessary measures to strengthen the protection of inmates in prisons,” the ministry said in a statement.

The pardoned detainees were selected according to “their age, state of health, length of detention and good conduct,” according to the text.

Their release will take place “in stages”, taking into account “the exceptional circumstances associated with the state of health emergency and the precautions required”.

Morocco, which on Sunday recorded 960 cases of contamination with 66 deaths and 69 recoveries, took drastic measures by closing its borders and declaring a state of health emergency in mid-March to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.