Coronavirus haunts the destitute living on the margins in the Moroccan city of Sale

In a housing complex in the Moroccan city of Sale, over 900 people live in crowded rooms without running water or an income to support them. While the North African country entered total lockdown in mid-March, self-isolation and social distancing are a luxury that families in this complex cannot afford.

Some families have lived in their room for 40 years, steadily filling it with children and grandchildren, with some rooms housing up to 10 people. Almost all are marginalised, and since the outbreak of COVID-19, those who had jobs - such as working in gas stations or selling small items on the streets - have been left with no way to make a living.

At the housing complex in Sale's old medina, children hang around the communal courtyard and run through narrow alleyways. Families share one room where they wash clothes, and fill buckets of water at public fountains.

Like countries around the world, Morocco is facing the challenge of how to protect populations from the fast-spreading virus while not punishing the poor. | Above: Women and children gather in a housing complex in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco.

In early March, the Moroccan government began rolling out measures to stem the spread of the virus, culminating in the ongoing lockdown that has turned once bustling cities into ghost towns. | Above: Volunteers and residents walk outside the entrance of a housing complex in Sale.

Borders, schools, shops, companies, cafes and mosques have closed. Movement between cities is restricted. Only one member of each household is permitted to leave in order to buy necessities, and those who work in essential jobs must have government-approved permission slips to show at checkpoints or risk facing up to three months in prison. | Above: Warda, a mother, poses with her son Mohamed and her daughter Jannat in their room in a housing complex in Sale.

Volunteers from a local non-governmental organisation have stepped in to help, visiting the residence to disinfect surfaces, trying to prevent an outbreak of the virus in this crowded corner of Sale. | Above: Volunteers disinfect the overcrowded housing complex.

Buckets and bowls are spread across the floor of a shared washing room for laundry in an overcrowded housing complex in Sale.

Kaddour El Miny, left, sits with his family in a room in a housing complex in Sale. He used to sell water to shoppers in the medina. A job that brought in very little before the COVID-19 lockdown has now stopped entirely.

Kaddour El Miny, 55, poses with his equipment for selling water, which he can no longer use, in a housing complex in Sale.

Ilias, 61, (above) lives with eight family members. "My sons can't find jobs. We're not poor" we're destitute," he said. "We don't rely on savings or a salary. If we don't go out to work one day, then we go to sleep hungry."

Teams of volunteers in hazmat suits from Mohamed El Gaid's aid group Shabab el Mowatana have been visiting slums and densely populated buildings like this one to help clean. Local authorities supplied a room near a mosque where volunteers gather, store equipment and get water.

A woman bakes bread for her family in an overcrowded housing complex in Sale.

Younes and his wife, Ilham, pose for a photo with their children in their room in an overcrowded housing complex in Sale.

A dog owned by one of the residents of a housing complex sits in his kennel in Sale.

A young girl returns with bread she bought for her family in a housing complex in Sale.

Abderrazak Abdelhady, 66, sits in his room in an overcrowded housing complex in Sale.

Kitchen utensils and shoes placed on a shelf inside a room that's part of an overcrowded housing complex in Sale.

A volunteer disinfects an overcrowded housing complex to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sale.