year 2020. april 2020 on 6 april, the government launched a website for citizens to request permits to leave their homes for urgent matters at تصريح الخروج من المنزل currently the reasons permitted are: going to the bank for company payroll purposes going to the hospital death cases on 19 april, all restaurants were re-opened in aqaba. may 2020 on 3 may, the prime minister issued defense order #11 pertaining to the use of protective equipment by people. in summary individuals in public places will be expected to wear a protective mask and gloves, failure to do so will result in a fine of between 20 and 50 jordanian dinars. those who work at facilities that serve the public (whether government or private), will also have to adhere to wearing safety equipment and are subjected to heftier fines ranging from 100 to 200 jordanian dinars per infraction along with the closing of the facility for 14 days. on 5 may, phase 1 jordanian students being evacuated back home will start and commence until 8 may. 3239 students are expected to be returned home and placed in quarantine. march 2021 on 9 march, jordan registered 7072 new covid-19 cases and 59 deaths. the jordanian authorities announced the closure of schools until further notice, noting that it had been only one month since they opened. on 13 march, seven covid-19 patients died at a hospital in al-salt, due to shortage of oxygen supplies. the minister of health, nazir obeidat, was fired following the incident. on 25 march, jordan said that it was planning to create a "coronavirus-free zone" for tourists where only vaccinated people can have access. the zone includes wadi rum, petra and the dead sea. protests against covid-19 measures on march 15, 2021, protests erupted across many of jordan's cities and provincial towns against the jordanian government's covid-19 restrictions, a day after oxygen ran out at a state hospital leading to the deaths of at least six covid-19 patients. hundreds of people gathered in the streets in defiance of a night curfew in the city of irbid and several other provincial cities including a neighbourhood in the capital amman and the city of salt. protesters also gathered further south in karak city and the port city of aqaba. on march 25, 2021, jordanian riot police dispersed protests in amman and other cities called to mark the 10th anniversary of arab spring pro-democracy demonstrations, and detained tens of activists. protesters demanded democracy and an end to emergency laws introduced with the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which civic groups say violate civil and political rights. covid-19 vaccination programme in jordan at a press briefing on 14 december 2020, jordan's health minister nathir obeidat announced the signing a final agreement to receive the pfizer coronavirus vaccine to cover 5% of the population. obeidat said the vaccine was expected to be delivered by february 2021. on 14 january 2021, the unhcr reported that jordan was one of the first countries to offer covid-19 vaccinations to refugees. as of february 2021, the jordan food and drug administration (jfda) approved three covid-19 vaccines: the astrazeneca vaccine for emergency use, the pfizer-biontech, and the sinopharm vaccines. there is a portal for vaccination sign-up, set up by the ministry of health. the ministry of health and national centre for security and crises management is leading the vaccination efforts. to date, 29 main vaccination centres and 45 secondary centres are operating across the kingdom to provide the vaccine. until 28 march 2021, jordan vaccinated 274,360 people against covid-19, noting that more than 822,140 people registered on the website. in december 2021, 40% of the population of jordan was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.