Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Students studying abroad will be quarantined at public sites or in hotels at the Dead Sea immediately after they return home as part of the government's efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Director of operations of the Coronavirus Crisis Cell, Brig. Gen. Mazen Al-Faraya said.

He told Petra in an interview that 1,000 public site rooms have been designated to accommodate the students during the 17-day quarantine period, and that these have air-conditioning, television sets and communication and internet services, adding that the room price will be JD15 per day, including meals and drinks.

Added to that are 2,100 rooms that have been reserved at hotels, where the Ministry of Health will be in charge of medical matters, he said, noting that a hotel room price will be JD70 per night.

Faraya said that the public sites will be built by the Jordan Armed Forces and will be ready at the weekend, and that the Royal Medical Services will be responsible for the health and preventive matters.

He said that the authorities have not chosen youth homes or hostels in the governorates for quarantine purposes for health, security and logistical reasons, and that the Dead Sea area was designated to hold them "for its ease and better means to control the pandemic."

Faraya said that the Dead Sea Road will be closed in both directions after the arrival of the first batch of students, adding that the returnees will undergo nose and throat swab tests at the airport after which they will be transported by special buses to the quarantine sites, which will be sealed off till the end of the mandatory isolation period.

Earlier on during the crisis, he said, the government had placed 5,000 people under quarantine at hotels in the Dead Sea, Amman and Aqaba and the government paid all the expenses. However, given the large number of students, which could reach 35,000, authorities cannot afford to bear their accommodation costs, he added.