Jordanians returning from China may be placed under observation at a public hospital for two weeks upon their arrival, as the Kingdom intensifies checks at its airports, ports and borders in an attempt to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in the country, Minister of Health, Saad Jaber said in a statement on Sunday, January 26.

He said that the Ministry has put in place preventive and curative measures to check on the health conditions of arrivals across all crossings in the Kingdom, through fixed and manual thermal scanners to detect people who have fever and those who are suspected of having coronavirus.

Jaber confirmed that a hospital with a capacity of 100 beds, within the campus of Al-Bashir Hospital, was equipped to quarantine any case of coronavirus.

He indicated that the medical team specialized in epidemiology will be available 24 hours a day at border crossings, to conduct medical examinations on all arrivals.

Upon the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah II, a private aircraft was sent to evacuate all Jordanians from the Chinese city of Wuhan, he stated.

Dr. Jaber indicated that the Jordanian students coming from China will be admitted to the Epidemic Diseases Department at Al Bashir Hospital and will be put under observation for 14 days.

The Ministry's preparedness measures, according to the statement, include conducting the necessary laboratory tests to detect the virus, assembling 10 field hospitals ready for use in the event of the disease reaching the Kingdom and drawing up a plan to deal with preventing the virus’ spread within schools.

He stressed that the ministry is implementing the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) in this regard through a therapeutic protocol, calling for the role of the media in raising awareness about the virus and means to prevent it from spreading in the country.

The Minister pointed out that people infected with the virus have flu-like symptoms, which include soar throat, fever and shortness of breath.

He reassured that 96% of the corona cases recover when receiving the necessary medical treatment.

He stressed that members of the Crisis Management Unit at the Health Ministry are available 24 hours to follow up on the spread of the virus globally, regionally and locally. The team is also assigned to receive citizens' inquiries on the Ministry's hotlines at 0778410186 and 06-5065756.

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