Jordan’s coronavirus tally rises to 629 as 16 new cases detected

AMMAN — The Kingdom on Monday registered 16 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the total tally to 629, according to Health Minister Saad Jaber.

The new cases include seven contacts of the truck driver in Mafraq, four Jordanian truck drivers who tested positive at Al Omari border crossing between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, three citizens who returned from Malaysia on Sunday and two residents of Irbid whose cause of infection is still under investigation, Jaber noted.

During the daily press briefing from the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management, the minister said that five patients left hospitals on Monday, leaving 140 people currently receiving treatment.

Epidemiological investigation teams carried out 3,500 tests during the day, raising the total number of tests to 144,356 since the outbreak of the pandemic, he noted.

Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh said that the decision to disburse monthly allowances for workers in the health sector during the crisis is “not new” and dates back to February.

Adaileh stressed that the government is keen on offering “all it can” to employees of the health sector, to enable them to perform their “noble duties” during the pandemic crisis.

Also commenting on the issue, Jaber said that the ministry had contacted the Prime Ministry on January 26 to authorise the health minister to disburse these monthly allowances until the end of the crisis, noting that the proposal was approved on February 2.