Jordan reinstates partial lockdown as coronavirus deaths spike

Mar 12, 2021

The Jordanian government is scrambling to reinstate partial lockdown measures in a bid to contain what medical experts here described as a third wave of the coronavirus, the worst the country has seen since the World Health Organization sounded the pandemic warning a year ago. On March 10 the government extended the night curfew, maintained the full Friday lockdown, suspended Friday and Sunday prayers and closed restaurants, parks and sports clubs until the end of March. The day before, the government suspended in-class teaching in schools and universities until further notice.

Minister of State for Media Affairs Sakher Dudin said on March 9 that the government would avoid imposing extended lockdowns so as not to exasperate the country’s economic situation. Jordan was hailed last year for imposing a full nationwide lockdown that quickly contained the spread of the virus.

Daily cases have spiked since the middle of February, reaching more than 6,000 in the past week. On March 10 the Ministry of Health reported 6,649 new cases and 60 deaths, bringing the total cumulative cases to 448,851 and deaths to 5,016, one of the highest fatality rates in the world. But medical experts warned that limited testing means the actual number of daily infections is much higher.

On March 10 Minister of Interior Mazen Al-Farrayeh said that Jordan registers a new case every four minutes and one death every 20 minutes as a result of the pandemic.

Jordanians have become critical of what they see as a slow government response in administering vaccinations, a process that began in January. According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, only 150,000 doses have been administered so far and only 30,000 Jordanian are fully vaccinated. By early March only 450,000 Jordanians and residents had registered to receive the vaccination, according to Farrayeh.