Jordan Records Highest Daily Spike In COVID-19 Cases

Jordanian police personnel guard at a checkpoint during the second day of a nationwide curfew, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Amman, Jordan. © 2020 Reuters
Jordanian police personnel guard at a checkpoint during the second day of a nationwide curfew, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Amman, Jordan. © 2020 Reuters
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Jordan Records Highest Daily Spike In COVID-19 Cases

Jordanian police personnel guard at a checkpoint during the second day of a nationwide curfew, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Amman, Jordan. © 2020 Reuters
Jordanian police personnel guard at a checkpoint during the second day of a nationwide curfew, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Amman, Jordan. © 2020 Reuters

Jordan on Sunday recorded 2,477 new coronavirus cases, raising the total number of infections to 347,250.

Also, the death toll from the virus climbed to 4,455 as 11 more fatalities were reported.

In this context, Jordan's National Committee for Epidemics (NCE) held an extraordinary session on Sunday to review the developments of the epidemiological situation.

The committee discussed the need to reimpose strict precautionary measures, including increasing curfew hours and shutting down economic institutions and sectors to limit the spread of the new virus variant amid its second wave.

Derar Hasan Balawi, professor and consultant of infectious diseases at the University of Petra, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that up to 250,000 doses from Chinese vaccine “Sinopharm” and 1 million from “Pfizer-BioNTech” will arrive next month.

He also noted that around 20,000 doses will be imported weekly.

The Jordanian government aims to vaccinate a minimum of 23 percent of the population.

Balawi said that 40,000 so far received jabs among 330,000 who registered on the government e-platform after the mass vaccination campaign kicked off on January 13.



Israeli Ambassador to US Says Hezbollah Cease-fire Deal Could Come 'Within Days'

Part of the destruction caused by the Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday (Reuters)
Part of the destruction caused by the Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday (Reuters)
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Israeli Ambassador to US Says Hezbollah Cease-fire Deal Could Come 'Within Days'

Part of the destruction caused by the Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday (Reuters)
Part of the destruction caused by the Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday (Reuters)

The Israeli ambassador to Washington says that a cease-fire deal to end fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached "within days."
Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that there remained "points to finalize" and that any deal required agreement from the government. But he said "we are close to a deal" and that "it can happen within days."
Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of not adhering to a UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between the sides that made similar provisions, and Israel has concerns that Hezbollah could stage a Hamas-style cross-border attack from southern Lebanon if it maintains a heavy presence there. Lebanon says Israel also violated the 2006 resolution. Lebanon complains about military jets and naval ships entering Lebanese territory even when there is no active conflict.
It is not clear whether Lebanon would agree to the demand.
The optimism surrounding a deal comes after a top US envoy held talks between the sides last week in a bid to clinch a deal.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas´ raid on southern Israel, setting off more than a year of fighting. That escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and later an Israeli ground incursion into the country´s south.
Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israeli cities and towns, including some 250 on Sunday.