8 COVID deaths, 661 virus cases recorded Thursday

AMMAN — Eight COVID-19 deaths and 661 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Thursday, increasing the caseload to 759,686, the government announced.

The new fatalities took the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 9,872, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The share of tests that returned a positive result, known as the positive rate, stood at nearly 2.95 per cent.

A total of 22,419 virus tests were also conducted on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 8,174,329, according to the statement.

The statement added that 458 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Thursday, expecting the total number of recoveries after finishing the 14-day quarantine period to stand at 742,065.

The statement added that there are currently 7,749 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 53 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Thursday, taking the number of patients currently receiving care for COVID-19 in hospitals to 497, the statement said, adding that 46 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 7 per cent, ICU beds reached 20 per cent, while occupancy rate of ventilators stood at 9 per cent.

In the central region, isolation bed occupancy rate reached 15 per cent, 22 per cent for ICUs and 7 per cent for ventilators.

The statement added that the southern region registered an isolation beds occupancy rate of 6 per cent, 9 per cent for ICUs and 9 per cent for ventilators.

The cases comprised 314 infections in Amman, 85 in Irbid, 21 in Balqa, 147 in Zarqa, eight in Madaba, 11 in Aqaba, 16 in Mafraq, 29 in Jerash, eight in Ajloun, 11 in Karak, seven in Tafileh, two in Maan, and two in Ramtha District.

The statement also added that the total number of people who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine has reached 2,694,873, while 1,80,875 got their second shot.

The number of people who have registered on the vaccination platform has reached 3,362,797.