Hundreds of thousands of students in Jordan went back to schools Sunday after almost a year of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ministry of Education announced a plan to gradually welcome more than two million students after it reported a decline in coronavirus cases in the country.
Schools and universities in the country have been shut since mid-March due to the pandemic.
Over the past month, the number of cases dropped to a thousand per day after it reached about 8,000 in mid-November, bringing the total number of cases in Jordan to 333,855 and 4,369 deaths.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Education Abdul Ghafour al-Quraan told the state-owned al-Mamlaka TV that more than 773,000 students were going back to the classroom this week.
He explained that 1.4 million students across the country will return gradually until March 7.
Quraan clarified that parents will decide whether they want their children to attend classes in person or opt for online learning. They will have to inform the school directly and sign a pledge confirming that the student will take the exams in school.
For his part, a member of the National Epidemic Committee, Bassam Hijjawi, said that the stability of the situation in Jordan and the decline in cases contributed to gradually returning school life to normal within a strict health protocol.
He said all students are required to wear masks and observe physical distancing in the classroom, with two square meters provided for each desk.
Hijjawi stressed that the committee will evaluate the situation after two weeks.
In mid-January, a corona vaccination campaign began targeting health personnel who suffer from chronic diseases and those over the age of 60.
A number of hospitals and health centers began inoculating people, after the arrival of the first batch of the Sinopharm and Pfizer - BioNTech vaccines, in a campaign that first targets 20 to 25 percent of the 10.5 million population.
Notably, vaccines are free for Jordanians and residents alike in the Kingdom.
