18 COVID deaths, 697 cases recorded Thursday

AMMAN — Eighteen COVID-19 deaths and 697 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Thursday, increasing the coronavirus caseload to 775,251, the government announced.

The new fatalities brought the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 10,100, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The share of tests that returned a positive result, known as the positive rate, stood at nearly 3.61 per cent.

A total of 19,295 coronavirus virus tests were conducted on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 8,601,517, according to the statement.

The statement added that 331 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Thursday. The total number of recoveries after finishing the 14-day quarantine period is expected to stand at 753,006, according to the statement.

The statement added that there are currently 12,145 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 79 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Thursday, bringing the number of patients currently receiving care for COVID-19 in hospitals to 607, the statement said, adding that 61 recovered patients had left hospitals.

On hospital capacities, the statement revealed that in the northern region the occupancy rate of isolation beds for COVID-19 patients reached 6 per cent, for ICU beds it reached 13 per cent and the occupancy rate of ventilators stood at 6 per cent.

In the central region, the isolation bed occupancy rate reached 19 per cent, 31 per cent for ICUs and 11 per cent for ventilators.

The statement added that the southern region registered an isolation bed occupancy rate of 9 per cent, 11 per cent for ICUs and 9 per cent for ventilators.

The cases comprised 343 infections in Amman, 65 in Irbid, 30 in Balqa, 98 in Zarqa, 14 in Madaba, 12 in Aqaba, 17 in Mafraq, 23 in Jerash, 17 in Ajloun, 20 in Karak, 36 in Tafileh, 21 in Maan, and one in Petra district.

The statement also added that the total number of people who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine has reached 3,115,321, while 2,394,048 got their second shot.

The number of people who have registered on the vaccination platform has reached 3,670,485.