AMMAN — Jordan has seemingly
surpassed the peak of a third wave of
COVID-19 after a set of indicators proved
a regular decline in positive coronavirus tests over the past days, according to
health officials.
اضافة اعلان
The peak of the third wave was in
week 49, which was during December 3–10, followed by a 20 percent decline in
cases, from 35,000, in week 49, to 28,000 in week 50, which fell during December
10-17. The positivity rate also declined from 10 percent to 8.6 percent.
Adel Balbisi, secretary-general
of the
Health Ministry for Epidemiological Affairs, stated to
Jordan News that “the wave's peak would subside for sure if the number of infections kept
on declining by the end of this week.”
However, Balbisi said it would be
a matter of time before the
Omicron variant begins to spread after detecting
seven cases in Jordan. “So far, the
situation is under control, but it is still unknown what the status will be
when Omicron cases increase,” he said, cautioning against not abiding by health
measures. “When we say that things are slightly better, that does not mean that
people should relax their measures.”
Mohannad Nsour, a member of the
epidemiology committee, told
Jordan News that it was possible to witness some stability while observing how the Omicron
variant would impact other countries. He
insisted, however, that “what matters now is to encourage people to get
vaccinated because unvaccinated individuals impose a significant risk on people
and could overwhelm the health system.”
Unvaccinated people make up 87
percent of the current COVID-19 related death toll and 82 percent of hospital
occupancy rates. "So with Omicron, it is still unclear how these
percentages will change," Nsour stated.
“Look at what's happening in
Europe. Europeans have received second and third shots, but one-third of
Jordanians have not even had their first shot," Nsour added, reiterating
the importance of receiving the vaccine.
He noted that the slow turnout
for the first shot is not a good indicator of our ability to fight Omicron.
In a step to raise the ability to
confront Omicron, new testing kits that are more efficient in detecting the new
variant will arrive in the country next week, according to Balbisi.
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