Gov't suspends travel for expatriate workers, foreign students

AMMAN — The Ministry of Health has temporarily prohibited vacations abroad for expatriate workers and foreign students studying in Jordan, Minister of Health Saad Jaber said during a press briefing held at the Prime Ministry on Sunday.

The decision is set to go into effect this week. 

The ministry also suspended school trips abroad and travel for government staff, except with the approval of the Prime Ministry, as part of new measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Monitoring at all land and sea crossings has also been intensified, and new recommendations and measures to be taken on the crossings will be announced within 48 hours, according to Jaber.

He added that the ministry will soon provide a “better” alternative quarantine site to Al Bashir Hospital, which currently holds 80 quarantined patients and has been criticised online for overcrowding. 

The Ministry of Labour is also expanding measures to combat the spread of the virus.

Spokesperson Ghaida Awamleh told The Jordan Times on Sunday that “in order to protect the health of citizens and expatriate workers, vacations for migrant workers that require travel outside of Jordan are suspended for unrestricted nationalities [those not subject to the Residency Law], except for cases of exit without return”.

“The decision is a part of a bigger, new series of measures taken to further protect Jordanian workers and society due to the discovery of many cases of coronavirus in a number of countries that are home to foreign workers, which may lead, God forbid, to cases of infection upon their return,” added Awamleh.

The Health Ministry also announced the activation of its Emergency Committee as of Sunday, headed by the secretary general. The committee is tasked with the immediate implementation of a plan prepared in advance for dealing with epidemics, which was created in coordination with the concerned authorities and will soon be updated to meet the Kingdom's current needs.

Late Sunday, Jaber announced that the most recent results of laboratory tests run on the Kingdom's only confirmed coronavirus case revealed that the strength of the virus in his body is diminishing, and that the patient is currently recovering.

He added that there is “only one confirmed case of the virus, and there are no other cases so far”.