AMMAN — Officials welcomed the decision to ease
COVID-19 measures, with some anticipating even further measures, including the
cancelation of defense orders.
اضافة اعلان
According to the latest decision, the
quarantine period for individuals infected is reduced to five days, while
people who came in contact with infected persons do not have to isolate
anymore.
Also, the
Ministry of Health will conduct only
4,000 tests daily, a massive decrease from the more than 70,000 tests carried
out in previous weeks, and the requirement of a negative PCR test result for
travelers arriving in Jordan is cancelled.
Practitioner of Community Medicine Dr Jamil
Qatatsheh told Jordan News that “now is a good time to ease the measures since
the country is reaching herd immunity due to the vast number of people who are
vaccinated, besides the fact that many people were exposed to the virus even if
they did not get infected.”
Still, Qatatsheh stressed that it is important
for individuals to take preventive measures to avoid becoming infected.
"I do not expect that there will be a
fifth wave. The virus exists amongst us and cannot be terminated, so we have to
deal with it differently. In the stages that we passed through when the number
of cases was low, it made sense to have these restrictive measures. However,
the measures are no longer beneficial when the numbers of infections increased,
besides the increase in
COVID variants," he said.
Lawmaker Salah Al-Armouti told Jordan News that
it is necessary to ease the COVID-19 measures and ask that the defense orders
be cancelled, as they, together with the other measures, negatively affected
citizens and the economy.
"They should remove all the (restrictive)
measures to maintain social security. The government does not have an estimate
of the extent to which these measures impacted the nation," Armouti said.
Economy and investment specialist
Wajdi Makhamreh told Jordan News that easing the measures is bound to positively
impact the economy, especially the tourism and all related sectors, which were
severely affected by the pandemic.
"I expect the easing will help improve the
flow of tourists. The golden triangle (Wadi Rum, Petra, Aqaba) is the area that
will benefit the most," Makhamreh said.
"However, defense orders are still
present; I expect that some measures are here to stay for longer. Also, I
expect that the government will become stricter in terms of vaccination,"
Makhamreh added.
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Spokesman
Ahmad Al-Rifai told Jordan News that the easing of measures related to the COVID-19
pandemic will contribute to alleviating the consequences of the pandemic on the
tourism sector, revitalizing it.
“Through the true partnership pursued by the
ministry with the private sector, and through the vigor and solidarity of
workers in the sector and service providers, and working with team spirit, the
industry will be able to overcome this crisis,” Rifai said.
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