Balbisi: Jordan's Omicron-related cases constitute 90% of all Covid-19 infections

AMMAN - 90% of the Covid-19 infections recorded daily are caused by the new "Omicron" strain, which is the dominant mutation in the fourth wave that the Kingdom is witnessing, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Health Affairs and the Corona file, Dr. Adel Balbisi, said.اضافة اعلان

In an interview with "Petra" on Thursday, Balbisi noted 116,000 injuries were recorded during the last 6 days, adding that Omicron-related hospital admissions reach 1% of the total Covid-19 cases.

Omicron severity is "lower" than the previous mutations, which recorded hospital admissions with 5% of overall Covid-19 infections, while Omicron-related hospitalizations stand at 1%, warning against laxity in implementing preventive procedures, in light of the Omicron spread, he pointed out.

Compliance to anti-Covid-19 protocols will reduce the number of hospital admissions that exceed 200 daily, as the fourth wave is witnessing a drop in the number of deaths, compared to the previous waves, he noted.

Balbisi also expected that the peak infections will be in the fourth wave next week, hoping that infections will drop and jordan's epidemiological curve indicators will stabilize.

On the national anti-Covid-19 immunization program, he said the vaccination rate of the target group over the age of 18 for the first dose reached 72%, the 2nd dose at 66%, while recipients of the third jab amounted to 465,000 , as its number is "relatively low."

In this regard, he called on taking the third dose for its effectiveness and its impact on raising immunity against the Covid-19 and its mutants.

A total of 194,000 received the Covid-19 vaccine from the age group of 12 to 17 years, including 14,000 students, carried out as part of the vaccination campaign that began on January 23 in schools, he noted.

There was no change in the quarantine periods for Covid-19 patients, he noted, stressing that the quarantine time for symptomless patients is 7 days, while symptom-related cases spend 10 days, based on the date of administering the Covid-19 test, according to Balbisi.

Regarding results of PCR tests, he noted majority emerge within 24 hours, indicating that the delay in some cases is due to the "large" number of daily tests, which amount to approximately 75,000.

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