AMMAN — New infections and positive testing rates are
down, but Jordan is still among the most infected countries, and the end of the
current wave does not guarantee the emergence of new waves of COVID-19, experts
have said.
اضافة اعلان
Jordan recorded the third highest number of weekly cases
and deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the World Health
Organizations’ COVID-19 Weekly Update.
In the past week, the number of new COVID-19 cases in
Jordan hit 35,520, placing it behind Iran and Iraq in the region’s rankings.
Meanwhile, 578 new deaths due to COVID-19 were recorded in the last week, a
number surpassed only by Iran and Pakistan in the region.
While there has been a recent drop in cases, with Jordan
recording 2,790 cases, 82 new deaths, and a positivity rate of 11.71 percent on
Tuesday, the wave is not yet over.
A lack of compliance with social distancing measures and
regulations, in addition to a low percentage of vaccine coverage, are the
driving factors behind high caseloads in Jordan.
“The second wave will end in the next few days but there
are now countries entering their third and fourth waves,” said head of the
health committee at the Lower House, Ahmed Al-Sarahna, in an interview with Jordan
News. “To lessen the impacts of a potential third wave, we must vaccinate
the largest possible number of people and ensure that people follow safety
regulations.”
The number of deaths in Jordan today, said former dean
and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Jordan University of
Science and Technology Ismail Matalka, are a result of infections that happened
two weeks ago. They will only fall when positivity rates drop to below 5
percent for a consistent period of time.
“We are in a race for herd immunity,” said Matalka. “The
nations that reach herd immunity at a faster rate limit the number of
infections, hospitalizations, the severity of waves and mortality rates.”
Strict Kingdom-wide curfews at 7 pm and full lockdowns on
Fridays will remain in place until the end of the month of Ramadan in mid-May.
The vaccination campaign in Jordan, though slow at first, has continued to pick
up. The National Center for Security and Crisis Control reported on Tuesday
that the number of people who have received the first vaccine shot exceeded
500,000 and 1.169 million people have registered on the online vaccine
platform.
“One cannot just rely on people’s compliance and
commitment to recommendations,” Salah Mawajdeh, adviser for government affairs
for the Middle East and North Africa for Hikma Pharmaceuticals and former
Minister of Health, said in an interview with Jordan News. Vaccines, explains
Mawajdeh, are the only definitive way to lessen infection transmission in
Jordan. To do that, however, vaccine fear must be tackled as it limits the
number of those registered on the platform and those who attend their
appointments.
Although the number of cases and deaths in Jordan, as
shown by the World Health Organization’s report present a bleak image, there is
more to the story. According to Matalka, the most accurate way to compare
COVID-19 situations is per a proportion of the population.
Additionally, it is not enough to just look at one point
in time when it comes to assessing the situation, Mawajdeh said. “Because we
did severe lockdowns early on, everything that happening in Jordan is out of
sync when compared to other countries – when people got the second wave we were
recovering from the first, and now when other countries in the region are done
with second wave we are facing it,” said Mawajdeh. “You cannot really take a
picture of just one day or one week, you have to look at the whole timespan and
see the general picture.”
Officials from the Ministry of Health were not available
for comment.
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