Nayrouz News Agency : Fourteen new coronavirus cases were recorded in Jordan on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases registered in the Kingdom since the beginning of the pandemic to 576, Health Minister Saad Jaber said.

During a press briefing at the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management, Jaber said that the new cases include five contacts of the COVID-19 positive truck driver from Al Khanaseri area in Mafraq, including two children under the age of five, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Also among the new cases are three students quarantined at the Dead Sea who had come from the US, and three truck drivers of Arab nationalities who tested positive at the Omari border crossing and were not permitted to enter the Kingdom, according to protocol.

Regarding counting the cases registered at the border, the minister pointed out that, according to the laws of the World Health Organisation, the country that diagnoses the case on its territory counts the case within its total number of cases.

Three cases have also been confirmed in Zarqa Governorate and are currently under investigation, Jaber said, pointing out that the Zarqa health director has been instructed to coordinate with the governor and the concerned authorities to control the cases and the areas that witnessed infections.

The minister added that no recoveries or deaths were registered in the Kingdom on Tuesday. A total of 122 patients are receiving treatment at hospitals.

On Tuesday, 4,500 coronavirus tests were carried out, bringing the total number of samples tested since the onset of the pandemic to 123,600, he said.

Jaber congratulated the Kingdom’s nurses on the occasion of the International Nurses Day, quoting HRH Princess Muna by saying: "You have earned the title of the ‘White Army’ and have earned the trust of His Majesty King Abdullah and the love of the Jordanian people."