Coronavirus: Jordan locks down border town over surge in cases

Jordan brought numbers down rapidly with strict lockdowns and enforced social distancing. But cases are creeping up again

Syrians ride a motorbike past a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from COVID-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, after a spike in infections in the area. AFP

A Syrian man rides a bicycle past a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from COVID-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, after a spike in infections in the area. AFP

Iraqi printing business owner Hossam al-Aidani adjusts a protective mask bearing a wedding invitation on a bridal shop mannequin amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in the southern port city of Basra. Al-Aidani's small business almost closed-down due to the restrictions amid the novel coronavirus crisis. But his idea to print invitations on protective masks allowed its survival, selling 50 per wedding, especially in the Shiite-majority southern Iraq, where marriage celebrations are to be held before the beginning of the Muslim mourning month of Muharram, at the end of August. AFP

Iraqi printing business owner Hossam al-Aidani prepares to print wedding invites on protective masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic at his shop in the southern port city of Basra. AFP

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus, speaks to the media in Ayder village in the Black Sea city of Rize, Turkey. Turkey's health minister says the number of new COVID-19 infections Saturday has hit its highest in 45 days and announced 1,256 new cases. AP

People walk on a bridge in the Camlihemsin district of Rize, Turkey. Turkish authorities have now allowed the reopening of restaurants, cafes, parks and beaches, as well as lifting the ban on inter-city travel, as the country eases the restrictions it had imposed in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19. EPA

A boy wearing a protective face mask looks through a car window amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS

Jordanian King Abdullah II (C-L) accompanied by his wife Queen Rania (C-R), as they and their entourage are clad in masks due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, while inaugurating a new emergency hospital in the capital Amman. AFP

A Kuwaiti woman wearing a protective mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic feeds pigeons at a square in Kuwait City. AFP

Jordan will seal off a city near the Syrian border from Monday following the largest daily rise in four months in coronavirus infections, which officials say have come mainly from its northern neighbour.

The health ministry said half of the 39 cases recorded in the past 24 hours were from Ramtha city, near the Syrian border.

Officials say lorry drivers and people entering the kingdom from the Jaber border crossing with Syria are spreading the virus.

Ramtha will be isolated from Monday with the authorities re-imposing restrictions on movement in the first such reversal of a provincial area since the authorities eased a nationwide lockdown last June.

Jordan, with one of the lowest infection figures in the region, has reported 1,378 cases and 11 deaths from Covid-19.

The spread of cases from Syria prompted the kingdom last Wednesday to impose a week-long closure of the Jaber border crossing, a trade artery for Syrian and Lebanese transit goods to the Gulf and Iraq.

Prime Minister Omar Al Razzaz said on Sunday that tougher measures at the border crossing would be imposed in the next few days given the surging infections in neighbouring countries and complacency in applying social distancing and health safeguards.

"We don't want, God forbid, to have a second wave," Mr Al Razzaz said.

In addition to measures, such as increased testing, Mr Al Razzaz said the authorities would increase the number of caravans to house hundreds of lorry drivers and Jordanians arriving from Syria who are put under quarantine.

Syria has witnessed an alarming increase in the spread of the coronavirus in the past two weeks, western NGOs and World Health Organisation officials say.

The Damascus government has admitted there has been a rise in daily cases, with 84 cases announced on Sunday. But medical sources and witnesses say there are many more that are not reported in a war-devastated country where testing is limited in a fragile health service.