Covid-19 Restrictions Tightened as November Protest Anniversary Approaches

iranwire.com – Further restrictions to help reduce the spread of coronavirus will be imposed in Iran on Tuesday, November 10. The measures have been met by substantial criticism on social media, with many Iranians questioning the motives behind them. Some say the move is political: the anniversary of the widespread protests that were brutally suppressed by authorities is only days away.

Iran’s coronavirus fatalities hit another record high, with 459 deaths in one day, and the new restrictions and partial curfews will be imposed for a period of at least a month in an effort to get the crisis under control.

The curfew on non-essential businesses and services will start at 6pm on November 10. Critics say the measure will have, at best, negligible results because during the autumn, not many people go out shopping after that hour anyway. Others say the overall curfew preventing people from leaving their houses from 9pm to 4am will also have little effect because, again, during these hours people are not out and so there is less need to prevent the spread of the virus.

The health ministry explained its plans: “Our goal in the coming month is to reduce hospitalizations by 30 percent and fatalities by 15 percent,” declared health minister Saeed Namaki. “Our goal for the next three months is to reduce hospitalizations by 50 percent and fatalities by 30 percent.”

So, based on the official statistics issued by Namaki’s ministry, the number of coronavirus fatalities should be expected to drop to about 350 by December 10 and to 200 by February 8, 2021. These numbers are still high, but it is debatable whether this can be achieved or not.

Why is Tehran’s Still Open?

In recent weeks, various officials have talked more than they have before about the need for Tehran and other big cities to be locked down. Tehran City Council members, the Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce, Dr. Minoo Moharez, a  taskforce member and the president of Iran’s Medical Council, and even First Deputy Minister for Health Iraj Harirchi have repeatedly said Tehran is in need of a two-week lockdown to get the situation under control and drive down the number of cases. But, as of now, no such decision has been made.

“The total lockdown of Tehran for two weeks is not on the agenda for the moment,” announced Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province. “Flexible working hours have been discussed, but this cannot be done in places that must provide services to many clients.”

It is apparent that, before giving in to a two-week total lockdown, the government wants to try other measures, including traffic restrictions in 89 cities, increasing remote work to 50 percent, closing off the roads in and out 25 provincial capitals and imposing a curfew on non-essential businesses.

According to the latest statistics, currently 6,400 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Tehran and the number of those admitted to the hospitals exceeds the number of patients who are discharged.

Lack of “Audacity and Will”

Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, president of Tehran City Council, says that every day in the city of Tehran between 150 and 200 people die from coronavirus compounded by air pollution. He believes that this is one of the highest rates of mortality among all the cities in the world.

“The number of coronavirus fatalities in Tehran has increased considerably in the past week but, unfortunately, the National Coronavirus Taskforce has yet to reply to a proposal by Tehran City Council and the parliamentary caucus of representatives from Tehran for a two-week lockdown of Tehran,” Hashemi Rafsanjani said. “Of course, the director of Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce has said that he approves of the proposal but apparently the officials who must make the decision lack the required will and audacity to take this action, which is necessary to break the chain of transmission and to provide a minimum of respite to restore the effectiveness of the health system and healthcare workers.”

Confirming that every day 200 people die from coronavirus in Tehran, Nahid Khoda-Karami, chairwoman of Tehran City Council’s Health Committee, said, “Currently 6,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Tehran. Close to 3,000 of them are connected to ventilators and for this reason the number of fatalities is likely to rise. Therefore, health protocols must be enforced more strictly. Unfortunately, they have not agreed to a two-week lockdown. Instead, the National Coronavirus Taskforce has made a defective and weak decision, but even this decision is not being carried out.”

The shutdown of all child daycare centers in Tehran province has been extended, announced Amin Shahrokhi, director general of the province’s Welfare Organization. He said that since offices are not closed some of these centers might continue their activities illegally and secretly, in which case they would be given two warnings. If it happens a third time, the business in question will be shut down.

The latest high government official to contract coronavirus is General Hossein Ashtari, commander of Iran’s National Police. Ashtari also happens to appear on the United States sanctions list for “gross violation of the human rights of Iranians.” Following the 2019 protests, Hossein Ashtari announced that his forces had handled the unrest well, and accused the US of being behind the demonstrations.

Provinces Round-up

The surge of coronavirus in Alborz province continued into the second week of November.  In the last 24 hours alone, 21 more Covid-19 patients died, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,862, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. The hospitalization of 115 people with newly-confirmed or suspected Covid-19 diagnoses meant the total number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the province stood at 899 as of November 8.

With the increase in the number of hospitalizations at Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, more wards in the hospital have been allocated to coronavirus patients, reported hospital official Dr. Hasan Khoda-Parast. “Many patients with symptoms of a stroke or kidney disorders come to the hospital but after testing it turns out that they have been infected with coronavirus,” he said.

Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics

In her daily briefing for November 8, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:

Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.

This is part of IranWire’s coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology