16 COVID deaths, 658 virus cases recorded Saturday

AMMAN — Sixteen COVID-19 deaths and 658 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Saturday, increasing the caseload to 782,210, the government announced.

The new fatalities took the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 10,203, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The share of tests returning a positive result, known as positive rate, stood at nearly 2.75 per cent.

A total of 23,892 virus tests were also conducted on Saturday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 8,782,890, according to the statement.

The statement added that 1,041 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Saturday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 760,509.

The statement added that there are currently 11,498 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 82 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Saturday, taking the number of patients currently receiving care for COVID-19 in hospitals to 699, the statement said, adding that 53 recovered patients left hospitals.

On hospital capacities, the statement revealed that in the northern region the occupancy rate of isolation beds occupied by COVID-19 patients reached 13 per cent, ICU beds reached 18 per cent and the occupancy rate for ventilators stood at 11 per cent.

In the central region, isolation bed occupancy rate reached 21 per cent, 32 per cent for ICUs and 11 per cent for ventilators.

The statement added that the southern region registered an isolation bed occupancy rate of 9 per cent, 12 per cent for ICUs and 8 per cent for ventilators.

The cases comprised 273 in Amman, 145 in Zarqa, 101 in Irbid, 41 in Tafileh, 19 in Mafraq, 15 in Balqa, 14 in Aqaba, 10 in Jerash, nine in Petra District, eight in Maan, seven in Karak, seven in Ajloun, six in Madaba and three in Ramtha District.

The statement also added that the total number of people who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine has reached 3,242,791 and 2,498,898 have received their second shot.

The number of people who have registered on the vaccination platform has reached 3,781,451.