Jordan News

The expert in the field of epidemiology and the former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Maani, called for a study to postpone the second semester until the beginning of next March, to prevent a deterioration of the epidemiological situation in the Kingdom.

Al-Maani also called on the government to return to the night ban, starting at 8 for a minimum period of 3 weeks, and to prevent gatherings and parties in order to avoid a large outbreak of Corona.

Al-Maani pointed out that the peak of the current Corona wave will start in the second half of this month, and it needs serious work to deal with it, expecting hundreds of thousands of injuries to be recorded due to the highly prevalent Omicron mutant, indicating that each registered case is matched by 15 other undetected ones.

He called on the government to agree to conduct a rapid Corona examination during this period, as it gives an indication of injuries due to the increase in the number of cases.

For his part, the Adviser to the Prime Minister for Health Affairs and responsible for the Corona file, Dr. Adel Al-Balbisi, said that the period of isolation of medical personnel and workers in educational institutions infected with the Corona virus may be shortened, and additional measures may be taken.

On the other hand, Belbeisi confirmed that there is currently no plan to shorten the quarantine period for other Corona patients, which currently ranges from seven to 10 days.

Al-Belbisi also said that the return of the Tawjihi students to schools does not pose a danger to them, expressing his belief that schools are not a hotbed of transmission of the virus.

He explained that the school is a community environment, and there is a need for a protocol to return to schools, adding that the decision to postpone returning to school for the second semester was taken based on the expectation that the epidemic would reach its peak in mid-February.

Belbeisi stressed the need to reach a balance between the right to health and the right to education, but he stressed the need for face-to-face education for students.

High school students who went back to school on Tuesday and had to follow the established health protocol, Belbeisi said, adding that if the number of cases in any class or school increases by more than 10 percent, students will return to distance education.

Al-Balbisi pointed out that there are two theories regarding the future of the epidemic, the first indicating that Corona will become a seasonal disease, allowing the final possibility of herd immunity, and the second saying that as long as the virus continues to spread, new variables will continue to mutate.

Al-Belbisi also expected the number of cases to rise to 75 thousand, with a positive rate of 30 percent.