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AMMAN — The Health Ministry on Saturday refuted allegations made by some news websites that HIV/AIDS cases in the Kingdom increased by 530 per cent in 2022.
The ministry said that over the past five years, the Kingdom has registered both Jordanian and non-Jordanian AIDS cases and classified them into three categories, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The first category was recorded before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the national monitoring system was fully active, the ministry said, adding that in 2018 and 2019, Jordan recorded 113 and 103 HIV/AIDS cases respectively.
The second category was observed during the pandemic when the national monitoring system was partially halted, where the Kingdom witnessed only 54 AIDS cases in 2020, decreasing by 47 per cent compared with previous years, before figures rose again by 33 per cent, resulting in 72 recorded cases, the ministry added.
These rates were below the number of cases expected to be registered nationwide, the ministry said.
As for the third category, with the full reactivation of the national monitoring system in 2022, cases returned to normal rates with the Kingdom registering 112 AIDS cases, marking a 55 per cent increase compared with 2021, the ministry said, denying some news that the cases increased by 530 per cent.
These 112 cases included 63 for Jordanians and 49 for non-Jordanians who were deported as per the law.
The ministry said that these rates, whether going up or down, cannot be representative of the fact that the national monitoring system was “greatly” affected during the pandemic period, which saw a remarkable drop of cases.