Jordan's nationwide curfew brings country to standstill

Thank you for your reading and interest in the news Jordan's nationwide curfew brings country to standstill and now with details

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - Jordan confined its 10 million inhabitants to their homes in a sweeping one-day curfew on Friday that brought public life to a complete stop in a stepped-up bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus, witnesses and officials said.

The government said the 24-hour curfew that began Thursday at midnight, with a shutdown that encompassed shops, bakeries and even pharmacies and left open only hospitals and emergency services, was needed if Jordan was to avert a major outbreak.

"We sought through a complete curfew today to gauge our ability and to prepare ourselves for the worse, God forbid," Prime Minister Omar Razzaz told state television.

"The pandemic if it spreads will be difficult to control and we have to prepare for a period that is not short," Razzaz added, saying it would take Jordan a while to recover from the damaging impact of the crisis on its debt-laden economy.

People get their temperature checked by health workers as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus in Bogota, Colombia. Latin America had more than 20,000 cases of Covid-19 as of April 1, 2020 - double the figure from five days earlier, according to an AFP tally. AFP

A worker performs a swab test on a desk at the Duduza Clinic that has been shut down after a nurse tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. AFP

A municipal worker disinfects a quarantined homeless shelter in El Salvador's capital San Salvador. AFP

Japanese tuba player Kazuhiko Sato records himself at his home in Tokyo as members of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra prepare for their latest recital. AFP

People maintain safe distancing while queueing to enter a supermarket in Grand Baie, Mauritius. AFP

Protective masks bearing the names of medical staff are pinned to a wall at a field hospital for coronavirus patients, financed by US evangelical Christian disaster relief NGO Samaritan’s Purse, outside the Cremona hospital, Lombardy, Italy. AFP

A woman wears a face mask as she takes a photo of blossoms at Yuyuantan Park in Beijing. AP Photo

A shop window in Grosse Pointe Woods, in the US state of Michigan. AP Photo

A municipal worker sprays disinfectant at a school in Dakar, Senegal. AP Photo

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, wears a protective mask during a plenary session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo. Bloomberg

An employee holds up an Ichroma Covid-19 Ab testing kit at the Boditech Med headquarters in Chuncheon, South Korea. Bloomberg

Police officers wear protective face masks as they direct traffic through a checkpoint in Barcelona, Spain. Bloomberg

A medical worker takes a swap at a coronavirus drive-through testing centre in the car park of the closed Chessington World of Adventures Resort theme park in Chessington, Greater London. Bloomberg

Pedestrians pull trolley bags along a nearly deserted street in Palermo, Italy. Bloomberg

The kingdom has seen a spike of coronavirus cases since announcing the first early last month, and now has a total of 310 with five deaths.

The government announced a curfew two weeks ago after the monarch enacted an emergency law that gave Mr Razzaz sweeping powers that restrict civil and political rights.

Tens of thousands of army troops and police have been deployed across the country. Movement has also been banned between governates and the capital.

The army has confiscated dozens of cars that violated the ban on vehicles with drivers facing a year in prison and heavy penalties.

The army also sealed the country's second largest city of Irbid near the Syrian border last week, placing 2 million inhabitants in a tight lockdown. It cordoned off several villages around the city after discovering many coronavirus cases caused by the spread during a mass wedding.

Even government ministers on Friday were confined to their homes, and police detained two deputies who broke the curfew in the toughest moves so far to restrict people's movements.

Twenty-two Muslim worshippers who went to pray in a mosque in the working-class district of Russaifa near Amman, the capital, were arrested for violating a strict ban on public prayers in mosques, security sources said.

The government said it would relax the curfew on Saturday to allow movement by foot for people to buy goods from local groceries and bakeries during daytime. The ban on vehicles and the night curfew will remain in place until further notice.

Updated: April 4, 2020 03:30 AM

These were the details of the news Jordan's nationwide curfew brings country to standstill for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at The National and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

PREV Vietnam death row tycoon who embezzled US$27b, begs court for life
NEXT Explainer: What legal grounds does the UN have to oppose Israel’s ban on UNRWA and what could it mean for Gaza?