How did Jordan combat COVID-19: Lessons learned for scaling

Pulse-Check: Exploration of Early COVID-19 Pandemic Health Care and Public Health Responses in Select Middle East Nations

“…These included a ban on large gatherings and a strict curfew (Al-Kazwini et al, 2021;Negev et al, 2021); closure of schools and universities, with remote work encouraged when possible (Abdel Jalil et al, 2020); closure of shopping centers, nightclubs, bars, sports clubs, parks, and pools ("Jordan: Authorities to Extend the Nationwide Nightly Curfew to 1900-0600 Starting March 13," 2021; Al-Kazwini et al, 2021); a prohibition on religious gatherings; a halt on newspaper printing; a ban on travel in and out of the country; and in-hospital mandatory quarantine of asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19-infected individuals (Samrah et al, 2020). The Jordanian armed forces and police were called upon to ensure implementation of the mandatory wearing of masks and gloves and social distancing in public spaces (Al-Kazwini et al, 2021). As restrictions began easing at the end of April 2020, including the reopening of borders to neighboring countries with higher outbreak incidences, COVID-19 infection rates began rising.…”

“…As restrictions began easing at the end of April 2020, including the reopening of borders to neighboring countries with higher outbreak incidences, COVID-19 infection rates began rising. By autumn 2020, COVID-19 positivity rates in Jordan had reached one of the highest rates worldwide (Al-Kazwini et al, 2021).…”

“…As part of the national effort to combat the pandemic, the MOH designated select hospitals to quarantine and treat all patients who tested positive for COVID-19 (Saadeh et al, 2020;Al-Kazwini et al, 2021). No visitors were permitted at these facilities, and all nonemergency surgeries and procedures were canceled.…”

“…Some of the countries in our study were able to ramp up their COVID-19 testing capabilities over time. For example, Jordan began investigating sources of virus spread in 2020 and opted for door-to-door nasopharyngeal swabs for PCR COVID-19 sampling (Al-Kazwini et al, 2021). In fall 2020, Jordanian officials increased testing capabilities and had testing readily available (Alhalaseh et al, 2021).…”

Evaluation of Jordan’s citizens’ awareness of the emerging Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease: A mixed analysis of the symptoms, transmission, and preventive measures

“…Also, Jordan shifted to a distance-learning model with the help of many telecommunication companies, which provided easy and free internet access to these lectures. Mandatory PCR tests and a 14-days quarantine were provided to all the arrivals [14].…”