Prime Minister Dr. Omar Al-Razzaz announced on Saturday a bouquet of new protective measures and decisions meant to control a possible outbreak of the novel Coronavirus including the closure of the educational system for two weeks.

The measures taken “in light of the rapid global developments” are as follows:

First, the education sector:

• Suspend the working hours of educational institutions (kindergartens, nurseries, schools, universities, colleges, institutions and training institutes) from Sunday morning, March 15, 2020, for a period of two weeks.
• The Directors of Education shall organize the working hours of the Ministry of Education, according to the instructions issued in this regard.
• The Ministry of Education will start implementing the distance education plan through the Ministry's e-learning site as of next week, and utilize the national TV channels for this purpose starting this week.

Second, travel procedures:

• In addition to what was previously announced regarding the suspension of flights to and from some countries as of Monday, March 16, 2020, all flights to and from the Kingdom will be suspended starting Tuesday, March 17, 2020, and until further notice, excluding commercial freight traffic.
• Excluding the cadres of diplomatic missions and international organizations, provided that the Ministry of Health's instructions are adhered to for 14 days, including self-quarantine. Diplomatic missions and international organizations shall inform the Ministry of Health, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if any symptoms appear on the staff of diplomatic missions that warrant medical examinations.

Accordingly, all of the Kingdom’s airports, land and sea border crossings are closed to passenger traffic, except for commercial freight.

Directing Jordanians abroad to remain in their places.

• Jordanians in neighboring countries who are forced to return, can enter through land and sea border crossings, and are subject to the procedures of the Ministry of Health.

Third, public events, religious rituals, and tourism:

A halt to all public events and gatherings. Instruct citizens not to gather at social events, including mourning houses and weddings.
• Stressing the importance of citizens' commitment as much as possible to stay in their homes, and to avoid leaving unless necessary.
• Under the guidance of the Fatwa Council and the Council of Churches, a halt to prayer in all mosques and churches of the Kingdom, as a precautionary and preventive measure, with a commitment to raising the call to prayer on time, and broadcasting a unified Friday sermon via TV stations.
• Stop visiting hospitals and prisons as of tomorrow, Sunday, until further notice.
Close archaeological sites for a week, to implement sterilization.
• Suspend sporting events, closure of cinemas, swimming pools, sports clubs and youth centers, until further notice.
• Suspend the supply and services of water pipes (Argeelahs and Hookas) smoking at cafes and restaurants and authorizing the responsible official authorities to close any cafe or restaurant that does not abide by these instructions.
• Cafes and restaurants are required to maintain seating distances between customers, in accordance with Ministry of Health instructions in this regard.

Fourth, organize work in the public and private sectors:

• Work continues in ministries, government departments, public and official institutions.
For workers in the private sector, measures will be taken to protect workers and ensure business continuity, in cooperation with the Chambers of Industry and Commerce and related parties.

Fifth, crisis follow-up procedures:

• The Crisis Cell shall operate around the clock to follow developments related to dealing with the emerging Coronavirus through its working teams:

o Health Care Team.
o A team to organize and monitor borders, crossings and airports affairs.
o A social protection team.
o Strategic inventory team (medicine and food).
o Media follow-up team.

• These procedures are reviewed periodically to decide whether to extend or stop them, or to adopt new additional procedures as needed.