Nayrouz News Agency : A total of 16 flights will operate over three days to bring home Jordanian students and citizens stranded abroad beginning next Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Mazen Faraiah, director of operations at the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management's crisis cell, announced on Thursday.

During a press briefing at the national centre, Faraiah said that a total of 24,779 applications from 136 countries have been received by the Foreign Ministry, while more than 1,000 applications did not meet the return requirements.

On May 5, two flights will head to Egypt and one to Turkey. On May 6, flights will bring citizens home from Canada, the US, Turkey, Russia, Algeria and the UK. On May 7, two flights will go to Turkey and one flight to the US, Hungary, Egypt, Germany and the UK.

Regarding booking, Faraiah said that Royal Jordanian will send reference numbers to people who have priority via e-mails and mobiles, provided that the applicants visit the Royal Jordanian website and reply within 48 hours, while the returnees in the second batch have only 24 hours to reserve seats. Fees include the ticket and the quarantine fees, he said. 

Arrivals will undergo 17-day isolation at quarantine sites, followed by 14-day self-isolation at their homes, he noted, pointing out that the arrivals will undergo PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to detect if any are infected with the novel coronavirus.

The crisis cell, in coordination with the concerned agencies and ministries, is currently arranging for the return of a new batch of more than 3,000 visitors and students, bringing the total number of arrivals in the quarantine sites in the Dead Sea area and Amman to more than 6,000 before mid-May