Eight days without injuries ... What is the secret behind the success of the Jordanian experience in confronting Corona?

Ayman Fadhilat - Oman

Jordanians breathed a sigh of relief, after the authorities announced the return of work to the economic sectors at full production capacity, and to ease the curfew measures that have been in place for 55 days, but within health conditions and controls that maintain national achievements in the face of the emerging epidemic of the Corona virus "Covid-19".

The decision to return to work came after the stability of the epidemiological situation in the country for about a month, the number of injured people retreated, and the passage of about eight days without any new injuries was recorded, which necessitated the easing of the existing ban measures since the beginning of the crisis in mid-March.

Government decisions excluded places of worship, schools and universities, government and private, sports clubs, cinemas, theaters, parks, public libraries and a number of sectors from returning to work.  

During the crisis, Jordan recorded 484 injuries, 381 of which were recovered, while nine people died.  

The secret of success
About the secret of the success of the Jordanian experience in the face of Corona, the Minister of State for Information Affairs, Amjad Al-Adayleh, attributed the reasons for the early and strict measures that started two months before the virus arrived.

The measures consisted of closing the borders to the Kingdom's arrivals and departures, a comprehensive ban on the movement of citizens, the disruption of work in public and private institutions and economic sectors, as well as the closure of places of worship, schools and universities, and a quarantine for arrivals to the Kingdom.

The Minister added to Al-Jazeera Net that any injury is recorded in any region imposed by a comprehensive ban by the armed forces and security services, and is completely surrounded for a period of twenty days, with a continuing state of permanent coordination between all official, military, security and health agencies in the Crisis Management Center, and with direct supervision From King Abdullah II.

According to Al-Adayleh, the successful Jordanian experience is due to the contribution of the Jordanian citizen and its residents, and the response and commitment to the decisions was 100% despite its severity and cruelty in some weeks.     

The official response in its first phase to confront the virus focused on limiting the spread of the disease, to ensure the health of the citizen, and therefore work began to provide for the basic needs of citizens, then it developed random mechanisms of examination and epidemiological investigation teams, as well as the mechanisms of quarantine and treatment, partial prohibition and other measures were developed .

Random checks

The Jordanian Minister of Health, Saad Jaber, announced that the cumulative number of laboratory samples since the virus began spreading in the country has reached more than 97,000, which reflects the great effort of the epidemiological investigation teams in all governorates.

An increase in the number of health checks enables the health authorities to know the disease and the epidemiological situation in the country. According to the Ministry of Health, tests will be increased during the next week, to achieve harmony with the return of the economic sectors to work at their full production capacity.

And the epidemiological investigation teams set up by the Ministry of Health conduct random checks to track any foci of the disease from two thousand to three thousand tests daily, after providing thousands of test strips.

Adjust the limits 

The authorities announced the closure of land, sea and air borders in mid-March, and prevented any entry or exit from the country’s lands, and subjected about five thousand returnees to a quarantine 14 days to ensure that they are free from HIV infection.

And I became aware of the danger of the next virus with cargo truck drivers from neighboring countries, especially the Al-Omari crossing with Saudi Arabia, due to poor monitoring of infected cases and the absence of a quarantine for those injured on the border there, according to doctors.

And Jordan was forced to prevent entry of drivers only after they conducted a corona examination, that they were free of injury, as well as preventing any foreign casualty from entering, while Jordanian drivers coming from Saudi Arabia are quarantined.

With the same emphasis, the authorities dealt with the Egyptian truck drivers coming to the port of Aqaba through the sea ferries of the port of Aqaba, preventing them from dealing or mixing with the Jordanian drivers and port employees, and restricting their transportation to private halls inside the port.

The authorities in the Aqaba coastal ports prevented foreign workers on ships coming to the port docks from going to the port land or mixing with port employees, even the waste of those ships prevented the authorities from unloading them in Jordanian ports except under health and environmental conditions for fear of transmitting the infection.

A conditional return
In order to maintain the state of success, the government issued a defense decision obligating everyone to adhere to the distances of social separation, wearing a muzzle and gloves before entering public places, and a person who did not commit to that would be fined from twenty to fifty dinars (28-70 dollars).

The government obligated public and health service providers and home delivery workers to wear masks and gloves, and imposed a heavy fine against those who violated this, with the place where the violation took place was closed for 14 days.