Clerks in the largest cemetery in Jordan, Sahab Cemetery, are hardly able to catch a breath amid the people's requests to pay grave fees to bury their deceased relatives in light of a record high number of deaths due to the coronavirus, according to a report by Reuters Wednesday.

Sahab cemetery is located on the outskirts of, Amman. Tuesday, the cemetery witnessed the burial of at least 50 bodies, the day after the Ministry of Health announced the record-breaking death toll of 109 due to COVID-19, the largest daily toll recorded by Jordan.

Employee Ahmed Jaber said, "we have no time to scratch out heads," as he finished writing a JD 50 invoice for a grave plot in the Amman municipality cemetery as many others queued behind.

As cases surged in the Kingdom over the past two months due to the highly transmissible British COVID-19 variant, the pandemic gripped Jordan and put its deaths and infections above most of its neighbouring countries, totally reversing months of previous success in containing the outbreak.

The Ministry of Health, which states that there are 3,334 COVID-19 patients in hospital, is facing a crisis with some wards at maximum capacity, especially in the central regions where more than 60 percent of the Kingdom's 10 million population live.

In the ministry's daily coronavirus announcement, it was revealed that isolation bed occupancy rates in hospitals in the northern, central and southern regions are 49 percent, 70 percent, and 36 percent respectively.

Additionally, ICU occupancy rates in hospitals for the northern, central, and southern regions are currently 72 percent, 76 percent, and 31 percent respectively.

Moreover, ventilator occupancy rates were at 35 percent for the northern region, 47 percent for the central region, and 24 percent for the southern region.

In turn, the head of the Private Hospital Association, Fawzi Al-Hamouri voiced his concern, stating, “We hope the daily infections don’t continue this way, otherwise there will be a real problem in the availability of isolation rooms and intensive care units.”

Hamouri noted that private hospitals are considering removing non-urgent procedures and outpatient clinics to create more space for coronavirus patients, a step taken by several public hospitals earlier this month.

Notably, several officials suggested the government should use sports stadiums, refurbish old hospitals or set up beds in schools.

“The infections are heading for more increases,” said Interior Minister and acting Health Minister Mazen Al-Faraya.

The pandemic however, posed to be a double-edged sword at the neck of the Kingdom, as Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh has continuously attempted to avoid a long-term total lockdown, recommended by health experts, in order to protect the economy from the virus' repercussions.

Jordan University Hospital's Director General, Islam Massad, told Roya that the hospital’s occupancy rate reached 100 percent March 16.

Massad added that the emergency ward is full of patients awaiting admission, indicating that the hospital has a capacity of 600 beds, of which 100 are designated for coronavirus patients. The hospital has 28 ICU beds.

“I hope we can control this and numbers fall because the situation is getting very difficult,” said the head of the emergency ward, Ahmad Saafeen.

On the other hand, trust in public health services appears to be at its lowest following the crisis at Al-Hussein New Salt Hospital where negligence in managing oxygen supplies claimed the lives of seven in the intensive care department, after they were cut off from oxygen earlier this month.

In turn, the scandal increased pressure on Khasawneh, who is facing his toughest challenge since being appointed last October, politicians say.

Anger over the crisis, which has pushed unemployment to a record 24 percent, sent hundreds of demonstrators on to the streets earlier this month, defying the curfew and calling for Khasawneh’s removal.