Tehran On Lockdown After Covid Spike

Radiofarda – Following an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Tehran, the Tehran Governor’s Office announced new closures and restrictions in the surrounding province beginning Saturday, October 3.

The Tehran Governor’s Office ordered the closure of educational centers, mosques and Prayer sites, cinemas, theaters, museums and museum-gardens, reception halls, hairdressers and beauty salons, social and cultural events and conferences, high-impact sports clubs including wrestling, judo and karate, and the like, cafes, coffee and teahouses, zoos and amusement parks, water recreation centers and indoor swimming pools, gymnasiums and Friday prayers.SEE ALSO:Iran Warns Armenia Azerbaijan Against Border Incursions

In recent weeks, especially following Muharram mourning gatherings across the country, the number of people who contracted or died from COVID-19 in Iran has increased sharply.

The spokeswoman for Iran’s Ministry of Health, Sima Sadat Lari, announced 179 additional COVID-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours, putting the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 26,746.

“During this period, 3,523 new patients suffering from COVID-19 were identified in the country, of which 1,401 were hospitalized,” said Sadat Lari at a press conference on Saturday.

According to Sadat Lari, the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in the country has risen to 468,119 following the detection of 3,523 new cases since yesterday. Of the new cases detected since Friday, 1,401 patients have been admitted to the hospital, and among those presently undergoing treatment in medical centers, 4,127 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection.

Based on the Ministry of Health’s official data, between February, when the outbreak of the novel coronavirus was officially confirmed in Iran, and August 22, 20,502 people in the country have died of COVID-19. From then until Saturday, October 3, another 1,244 cases added to the number of victims.

The number of infected people was less than 357,000 until August 22, but 111,000 people have fallen victim to the deadly virus since then.

Iran’s official statistics also show that since August 31, the number of people tested positive for or died of the novel coronavirus has been continuously peaking.

However, the Ministry of Health’s statistics on the novel coronavirus in Iran have been questionable from the beginning of the outbreak.

The Parliamentary Research Center previously estimated in a report that Iran’s number of COVID-19 victims was probably twice as high as the Ministry of Health’s estimates, and that the number of people tested positive for the virus was between eight and ten times higher.

According to Sadat Lari, the Iranian provinces under “Red Alert” include Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamedan, and Yazd.

Meanwhile, the provinces of Fars, Golestan, Hormozgan, and Kurdestan are under “Alert Status.”

The head of Corona Management Operations Headquarters in Greater Tehran on Saturday, October 3, called on the Governor to lock down the province for a week.

He also admitted that the number of people infected by the virus would increase three to five times under the current situation, and the death toll would soar between 1.5% to 3%.

Iran has the highest number of coronavirus victims in Asia after India.