Morocco has detected its first two cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus whose contacts have been isolated to avoid contagion, the health ministry said on Monday.

Morocco has banned flights with most countries and kept a night curfew in place to counter the spread of new variants.

The North African kingdom has confirmed 511,912 cases of COVID-19 and registered nearly 9,032 deaths.

It has rolled out vaccinations more rapidly than its neighbours, inoculating 5.1 million people to date.

The variant, B.1.617, has reached at least 17 countries, from Britain and Iran to Switzerland, sparking global concern and spurring several to close their borders to people travelling from India.