Jordan reports 4 new virus cases, 9 recoveries on Saturday

AMMAN — The Ministry of Health announced the registration of four new coronavirus cases in the Kingdom on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in Jordan since the start of the pandemic to 704.

According to a briefing issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health on Saturday, the new patients include two Jordanians who recently returned from Malaysia and were quarantined in an Amman hotel. They were transferred to Prince Hamzah Hospital.

The two remaining cases were truck drivers who tested positive at the Omari border crossing. One of them is Jordanian and the other, who is of Arab nationality, was dealt with according to protocol.

Also on Saturday, nine patients recovered; two at Prince Hamzah Hospital, six at King Abdullah University Hospital and one at Queen Alia Military Hospital, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

On Friday, 16 coronavirus cases were recorded in Jordan, including seven Jordanians who had arrived from the UK, Dubai and Canada, of which three were quarantined at the Dead Sea and four at Amman hotels. 

According to a briefing issued on Friday by the Prime Ministry and the Health Ministry and carried by Petra, the infections also included two non-Jordanian truck drivers and four people in Amman who contracted the virus from the contacts of a truck driver who had tested positive in the Jawa area. 

A resident of Mafraq who was in contact with the Al Khanaseri truck driver was also confirmed to be infected, while two Zarqa residents related to the contacts of the Al Khanasri truck driver tested positive. 

On Saturday, 2,402 laboratory tests were carried out, bringing the total number of tests conducted since the start of the pandemic in Jordan to 161,722.

The second day of the comprehensive curfew witnessed “full commitment” from citizens, with the exception of “a very limited number” of violations that were dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the law.

The briefing stressed that the implementation of the comprehensive curfew during the first day of Eid Al Fitr on Sunday will be carried out “rigorously”.

The press briefing also indicated that the number of users of the “Aman” (Safety) application has reached about 60,000 citizens in the Kingdom within two days.

It stressed that this application “does not violate user privacy”, and that citizens can download the application on Android devices at the following link: https: // play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jo.gov.moh.aman&hl=en 

Meanwhile, the evacuation of 2,770 citizens who had returned from abroad and completed the 17-day mandatory quarantine at Dead Sea quarantine sites started on Friday and will be completed over three days, after which they will undergo a 14-day period of self-isolation at their homes.

The third batch of flights designated to repatriate Jordanian students abroad and citizens wishing to return to the Kingdom will begin on June 6. Students will return from Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Muscat, Cairo, Qatar, Istanbul, Khartoum and Armenia.

The Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management's crisis cell, on Sunday will launch the safelyhome2.gov.jo platform to receive the applications of Jordanians wishing to return to the Kingdom via land or sea crossings, even if they have previously registered their names, he said, noting that application will be open for three days, until May 27. 

The previously launched platform, safelyhome.gov.jo, will be reactivated to register the names of those who want to travel by air, Petra reported.

Requests for the return of children of Jordanian mothers, wives of Jordanians and holders of temporary Jordanian passports can be submitted directly through Jordanian embassies. 

Priority will be given to students, stranded citizens and those who have lost their jobs due to the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic, Petra said.