Forty-five COVID-19 deaths and 2,097 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Thursday, increasing the caseload to 697,487, the government announced.

The new fatalities took the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 8,474 according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.

The share of tests returning a positive result, known as positive rate, stood at nearly 11.5 per cent, compared with 13.03 per cent reported on Wednesday.

A total of 18,228 virus tests were also conducted on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number of coronavirus tests administered since the outbreak of the pandemic to 6,564,997, according to the statement.

The statement added that 3,794 recoveries were registered in hospitals and home quarantine on Wednesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 658,287.

The statement added that there are currently 30,726 active COVID-19 cases in Jordan.

A total of 221 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals on Thursday, taking the number of patients currently receiving care for COVID-19 in hospitals to 1,918, the statement said, adding that 194 recovered patients left hospitals.

On hospital capacities, the statement revealed that in the northern region the occupancy rate of isolation beds occupied by COVID-19 patients reached 34 per cent, ICU beds reached 53 per cent, while occupancy rate of ventilators stood at 31 per cent.

In the central region, isolation bed occupancy rate reached 39 per cent, 55 per cent ICUs and 30 per cent for ventilators.

The statement added that the southern region registered an isolation beds’ occupancy rate of 23 per cent, 24 per cent for ICUs and 15 per cent for ventilators.

The cases comprised 797 infections in Amman, 457 in Irbid, including 93 in Ramtha District, 79 in Balqa, 272 in Zarqa, 66 in Madaba, 52 in Aqaba, 91 in Mafraq, 63 in Jerash, 56 in Ajloun, 65 in Karak, 63 in Tafileh and 36 in Maan, including seven cases in Petra District.