Jordan will enter a nationwide 48-hour lockdown on Friday for the first time in months as health officials worry a major spike in coronavirus infections could threaten its stretched healthcare system, officials said.
The country has seen what officials say is an "exponential" rise, with around 10,000 cases confirmed in just over a week – nearly double the total number of infections since the first cases in early March and a reversal what had been among the lowest infection and death rates in the Middle East.
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Senior officials are struggling to avoid a broader lockdown that the hard-hit economy can ill afford. The IMF forecasts the economy, which was struggling even before the health crisis, will shrink 6% this year, the first contraction since 1990.
