COVID-19: Jordan considers full lockdown as cases rocket
Statement comes as 9,417 new cases reported, and 82 deaths
Dubai: Jordan is considering a full nationwide lockdown as the coronavirus pandemic seems to be out of control, local media reported.
“The Jordanian government may resort to full lockdown if the situation spirals out of control,” Brigadier Mazen Al Faraya, Director of the Coronavirus Crisis Cell, said in a press conference.
Al Faraya’s statement comes as Jordan on Monday reported 9,417 new cases of COVID-19 and 82 deaths, marking the highest-single day tally of infections and fatalities since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.
The statement also comes in the wake of the death of seven patients at Salt Hospital due to lack of oxygen, on Saturday.
Al Faraya said the Jordanian Armed Forces have established an oxygen plant to produce 600 oxygen cylinders in three weeks and that a total of 10 tons of oxygen will be produced in April.
Earlier, it was said that a technical defect led to cutting off oxygen at the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The hospital scandal triggered outrage across many of the Kingdom’s cities and towns where hundreds of people took to the streets in defiance of a night curfew.