2 COVID patients dead after power outage at Jordan hospital

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Two coronavirus patients died at a hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Sunday after a short circuit knocked out power at the facility's intensive care unit, the country's health minister said.

The private Gardens Hospital is being rented by the Jordanian government to treat coronavirus patients.

Health Minister Firas Al-Hawari told state media Sunday that two people were confirmed dead at the hospital after the incident, and that investigators were determining the cause of the accident and whether the power outage was responsible for the deaths.

Angry people gathered outside the hospital and security forces cordoned off the facility and prevented relatives of patients from entering.

Earlier this year, Jordan's former health minister Nathir Obeidat resigned after several COVID-19 patients died at a government hospital in Salt when their oxygen supply ran out.

Jordan's Health Ministry has recorded more than 763,000 cases of coronavirus and at least 9,948 deaths. The country has administered two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to just over 19% of its 10 million people.