AMMAN — The Jordanian health ministry announced on Thursday evening it had identified its first two cases of the omicron variant of coronavirus, AP reported Friday.
The health ministry’s statement, announced by state-run Petra news agency, said the first case is a Jordanian national who recently returned from South Africa and is currently quarantined in a hotel in Jordan’s capital, Amman.
According to Petra, the second case is a Jordanian national who has not recently left the country, raising fears that the omicron variant may be spreading within the kingdom’s communities. The second individual is also quarantined in a hotel in Amman.
In response to the two cases, the Kingdom’s National Centre for Security and Crisis Management announced Friday that all arrivals will be required to take a PCR test 72 hours before arriving in Jordan and another PCR test upon entering the country. The law will come into effect on Sunday and does not apply to children under the age of five.
