Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron
Jordanian Health Minister Firas Al Hawari has contracted the coronavirus, state television said on Sunday as infections accelerate in the country.
Mr Al Hawari "is in home quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus", the report said.
Other government media quoted officials as saying that Mr Al Hawari was showing no symptoms. The minister said his condition was “stable”.
Official data showed that nearly 20 per cent of the 34,500 people who took PCR tests in the previous 24 hours tested positive for the coronavirus.
Health officials said Jordan entered its fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic this month, spurred by the Omicron variant.
Vaccination rates remain low, with about 37 per cent of the country’s 10.7 million population having received two doses of the vaccine, officials said. Almost all of the vaccinated are above 18.
The kingdom has reported 1.1 million infections and more than 13,000 deaths from the pandemic.
The government last week postponed the resumption of classes after the winter break by three weeks.
