Jordan's Minister of Health was interviewed on France 24’s "Middle East Matters" show, moderated by Sanam Shantyaei, to speak about his efforts in leading Jordan to fight coronavirus.

Following is a transcript of the interview as it was broadcast on April 28:

Presenter: Now to Jordan, which has become one of the first countries in the region to ease its lockdown against the COVID-19 outbreak. During almost 40 days, daily life was upended. The economy paralyzed, the 10 million strong population divided and borders shut. Some called these measures draconian. But according to experts, it was because of these early steps that the country managed to maintain a very low death toll that currently stands at under 10. And at the helm of that campaign to battle the disease, we had one man, Health Minister Saad Jabr, whose nightly press briefings have become must-watch television in Jordan and he joins us from Amman. Minister Jaber, thank you so much for speaking to us here on Middle East Matters.

Minister: Thank you very much for hosting me. I appreciate that.

Presenter: Now they are calling you Jordan's answer to Dr. Fauci. That's, of course, the trusted voice in the U.S. on the virus. But you actually managed to do something that he wasn't able to. Your country took very sternly pre-emptive measures. How did you do this, given that this came at a time when neighboring countries were still, some might say, dragging their feet?

Minister: I looked at what was happening in China in Wuhan and when I heard they quarantined the whole city or a whole province of 20 million, and by seeing what they are doing, it seemed that something big is coming and it's not an easy thing. So we started to dig out what's going on and how serious is this one? It was obvious that it was coming. So we started, maybe on the 24th of January, before the disease completed one month of its age, to take measures because otherwise, I mean, I thought something big will happen and reach us and it will be disastrous if at least we are not some kind of prepared or knowing where we stand and what we can do. That was something serious. Before the disease completed its first month, we started doing some measures to stop the disease coming to Jordan.

Presenter: Absolutely. But right now, Minister, is there some concern about this inevitable second wave? Jordan is starting to open up, especially during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which is very much a time for the community.

Minister: Of course, I mean, we have two threats. If there are dormant areas with the disease that we didn't discover yet. So we are increasing our testing capability and capacity. So we are increasing the number of random tests and high-risk group testing so that to discover if there is any area not tested yet. And the other threat is Jordanians coming from abroad. We are easing. So we put stricter criteria for those that they have to be tested at the airport when they come and then they have to spend 14 days of quarantine after which they have to be tested again.

Presenter: And you've been obviously speaking about your own population. But beyond that, Jordan hosts the second-highest number of refugees per capita after Lebanon. How are you taking care of these refugee camps, Minister?

Minister: Yes. Well, of course, we have many visits to the refugee camps. The largest one nowadays hosting 77000 refugees. At least we have prevented or we close the camp. No one from the outside is allowed to go in. So if he carries this coronavirus disease will spread it inside. We open the testing capability. We have a small hospital there capable of dealing with cases and trained to deal with coronavirus..

Presenter: But are people able to practice social distancing, minister, inside these camps?

Minister: No. Definitely they can, but we have a training campaign. We are trying to prevent, I mean, people from mixing in social gathering and definitely we stopped schools there that we had opened. We stopped everything. And there has been training to the population there on how to deal, how to to do social distancing. And we tried to improve the sanitation.

Presenter: Now, your Excellency, Jordan is reportedly in the process of developing this mobile app, an electronic trace, I believe. And yes, these track and trace tools, they could help isolate infected individuals. But it also brings up this question about how invasive that can be for people's privacy. What are your thoughts on this? Briefly, if he can.

Minister: Well, definitely, these apps are very useful to trace people that have been in quarantine. In our system, anyone who has been in quarantine should also stay or spend another 14 days at home. This will enable us to trace them. Also, some truck drivers coming..

Presenter: My question is more about surveillance. Will this app be diminished once the crisis is over?

Minister: I hope the crisis will be over and all these measures will diminish. But definitely it will help us trace them. Regarding privacy, I think if we need those measures, we have to use them. So, I mean, at this time, we need them probably to trace some people infected or not infected being at quarantine. So we need them. So once the need is done, we don't have to use them. I mean, privacy is very important in Jordan and human rights are very important in Jordan. We respect that. But now we have to balance between health and their rights. So we are trying to be a little bit in favor of health nowadays.

Presenter: Absolutely. And I'm very happy that you mentioned human rights because of course, sorry to interrupt you, this is a particularly challenging time for the spread of misinformation that's happening very much globally. Do you agree that you need to be working with media outlets and journalists in the country so that people are correctly informed? And the reason that I bring this up is that, of course, two journalists have been detained over in Jordan because of their critical reporting.

Minister: Well, we work, hand by hand, with journalism and with the media and actually our strong media campaign, not talking only about myself or the minister of health, but the whole medical part had a huge and very effective media campaign that made or built the trust between the government and the people. So, I mean, we work hand-in-hand together to combat this disease. And we succeeded together because we knew from the first day, from day one, that we will not succeed unless people trust us.

Presenter: Absolutely. That was the question, but we go back to that question of trust. What about the journalists who have been detained?

Minister: Well, this is something else. You know we said, I mean, the government said that rumors should be fought and any false information that will make distrust between the people and the government..

Presenter: But is it distrust, your Excellency, to draw attention to workers' complaints about the economic impact of the confinement. Is that to you, a rumor?

Minister: I don't know which journalists you are talking about..

Presenter: I'm talking about Fares Sayegh and Mohammad AlKhaldi of Roya TV in Jordan.

Minister: OK. The story was a question. The story was a question. I don't know. I mean, what other causes might have been that for their detention? But it was not totally for the free press or something. There was something else. I don't know the exact reason. I know the story, but this story has been questioned by many people, so I can't talk about that, especially that their story is now in court and in Jordan, the law, once there is a case in the court, you can't talk about it until the judge, I mean, tells his word.

Presenter: Absolutely. Your Excellency, I'm afraid that we have time, but the reason that I brought that up is because people in the country look to you as a voice of reason, as a leading voice on this crisis and perhaps human rights. The spread of information is very much linked to that. I would like to thank you very much. Saad Jarber, Jordan's health minister, for speaking to us here on Middle East Matters. I really appreciate your time.

Minister: Thank you very much.

Presenter: Thank you for being with us.

???????? #Jordan has become one of the first countries in the region to ease its #Coronavirus lockdown after flattening the curve.

The county’s health minister @DrSaadJaber speaks to @SanamF24 on @MEastMatters about stern preemptive measures, including the closure of borders ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/80rO4UQ4mr

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 28, 2020