Jordan Announces Smoking Crackdown in Virus Fight

The World Health Organization has long ranked Jordan's 10 million inhabitants among the world's biggest smokers | AFP
The World Health Organization has long ranked Jordan's 10 million inhabitants among the world's biggest smokers | AFP
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Jordan Announces Smoking Crackdown in Virus Fight

The World Health Organization has long ranked Jordan's 10 million inhabitants among the world's biggest smokers | AFP
The World Health Organization has long ranked Jordan's 10 million inhabitants among the world's biggest smokers | AFP

Jordan has extended a ban on cigarettes in closed public spaces to all forms of smoking, citing the fight against COVID-19 in a country with one of the world's highest smoking rates.

"In order to protect the health and safety of citizens, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, smoking of all forms (cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and shisha) is banned in closed public places," the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization has long ranked Jordan's 10 million inhabitants among the world's biggest smokers.

The Guardian last month published figures showing that the kingdom had surpassed Indonesia to have the highest smoking rates in the world, with more than eight out of 10 men regularly smoking or otherwise consuming nicotine.

Citing the WHO, the health ministry said that "smokers and passive smokers are more vulnerable to being infected by COVID-19, with stronger symptoms".

Jordan has registered 1,133 cases of the COVID-19 illness, including nine deaths.

The kingdom introduced a cigarette ban in public places in 2008, but the new regulations cover electronic cigarettes and shisha waterpipes popular in the region.

However they only apply in "fully closed" public areas.

"The decision doesn't bother me much because I don't smoke arghileh (shisha) in closed places," said waterpipe enthusiast Khaled al-Shamhuri.

"The smoking ban in public places is old but wasn't enforced."

Coffee shop employee Hassan al-Shadfan said the new rules would "negatively affect us".

"The cafe is a closed space and most clients don't just come to eat or drink tea and coffee, most smoke arghileh," he said.

But Ahmad Rubbaa, owner of a cafeteria selling cigarettes, was less concerned.

"A smoker is a smoker wherever they are, no law can stop them," he said.

"I don't think this will affect tobacco sales."



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.