Jordan records 295 new cases of Omicron COVID variant

AMMAN — The Health Ministry on Sunday announced registering 295 new cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19. 

Adel Bilbeisi, secretary general at the Health Ministry for epidemiological affairs and the official in charge of the COVID-19 crisis, said that the total number of confirmed infections with Omicron variant in Jordan now stands at 328. 

He told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the ministry will continue announcing new cases once they are confirmed with “full transparency”. 

Meanwhile, 43 COVID-19 deaths and 1,447 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Sunday, increasing the caseload since the outbreak of the pandemic to 1,052,868, the government announced.

The new fatalities took the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 12,487, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The share of tests returning a positive result stood at nearly 5.01 per cent.

A total of 28,911 virus tests were also conducted on Sunday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the start of the pandemic to 13,336,915, according to the statement.

The statement added that 5,256 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Sunday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 997,546.

The statement added that there are currently 42,835 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 124 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Sunday, taking the number of patients currently receiving care for COVID-19 in hospitals to 1,050, while 106 recovered patients left hospitals, the statement said.

Additionally, the statement revealed that in the northern region the occupancy rate of isolation beds occupied by COVID-19 patients reached 24 per cent, ICU beds reached 45 per cent, while the occupancy rate of ventilators stood at 26 per cent.

In the central region, isolation bed occupancy rate reached 25 per cent, 45 per cent for ICUs and 24 per cent for ventilators.

The statement added that the southern region registered an isolation bed occupancy rate of 9 per cent, 16 per cent for ICUs and 12 per cent for ventilators.

The cases comprised 575 infections in Amman, 251 in Irbid, 234 in Zarqa, 96 in Balqa, 54 in Jerash, 10 in Ajloun, 50 in Karak, 102 in Madaba, 41 in Mafraq, seven in Aqaba, 11 in Maan, two in Ramtha District, 14 in Tafileh, while no cases were recorded in Petra District.

The statement added that the total number of people who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine has reached 4,313,657 while 3,906,835 have received their second shot.

The number of people who have registered on the vaccination platform has reached 4,636,390.