Corona in Iran; Number of Infected Approaches One Million; Restrictions to Continue Until End of Year
Despite specialized committees of the Corona Control Headquarters announcing that Tehran will enter an “orange” status from next Saturday, officials at the Ministry of Health are reporting that restrictions will continue until the end of the current Persian year.
Meanwhile, daily official statistics from the ministry indicate that within the next one or two days, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country will exceed one million people.
According to a Wednesday, December 3rd report from ISNA news agency, Alireza Zali, commander of corona disease control operations in Tehran, described the conditions of this metropolis in dealing with the corona outbreak as “unstable and fragile” and added that to control the disease in this province, “we must move with calculated resolve and according to a layered plan.”
He simultaneously considered the “reduction” in corona statistics in Tehran province unrelated to the restrictions of the intelligent corona management plan.
However, while appreciating Tehran citizens’ cooperation with this plan, he said that “the effects of the applied restrictions are visible in the city’s rhythm. To the extent that congestion in the city has decreased by about 30 percent and we are also seeing a 30 percent reduction in congestion in public transportation.”
Referring to the decision to classify Tehran under “orange” status from Saturday, Mr. Zali said: “Some restrictions such as preventing ceremonial gatherings and limiting government employees’ presence in offices as well as imposing night-time travel bans will continue. Of course, some restrictions will be reduced.”
He did not provide further clarification on this matter.
Mehr news agency, citing Hossein Doulafeghari, head of the social security committee of the National Corona Control Headquarters, reported that comprehensive intelligent corona restriction plans “until the end of the year” will continue.
Mr. Doulafeghari cited the main problem as non-compliance with health protocols by all sectors and made the reduction or increase of restrictions in each province contingent on reviewing the status of each province on a weekly basis.
He said: “That is, if a province’s status has been reduced from red to orange this week, restrictions will be reduced, but if the situation returns to red status next week, restrictions will be increased.”
He also described the red, orange, and yellow status in provinces as follows: “If there are 10 hospitalizations per 100 people, the city’s status is red; if hospitalizations are below 6, meaning between 6 and 4, the status is orange; and if below 4, the status is yellow.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson reported on Wednesday that 362 people died in Iran from coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours.
According to IRNA news agency, Sima Lari stated on Wednesday, December 3rd, that with the death of these individuals, the number of coronavirus victims in the country reached 48,990 people.
She also reported the number of corona cases in the past 24 hours as 13,621 people and the overall government statistics for total cases in Iran as 989,572.
According to Ms. Lari, among the newly identified cases, 2,246 people were hospitalized and 5,828 COVID-19 patients are under supervision in severe condition.
Iran’s Health Ministry officials, despite serious doubts from independent sources regarding the accuracy of government coronavirus statistics in Iran, daily provide official figures of infected and deceased to the media.
Minoo Mohraz, a member of the National Corona Control Headquarters, also told IRNA: “The chain of coronavirus transmission is now broken, but this does not mean the end of this disease.”
Ms. Mohraz warned: “If health protocols are not taken seriously, the same fate awaits the people.”
However, she added: “Statistics on visits to medical centers, infection, hospitalization, and transmission of coronavirus to others have decreased to about 60 percent, because for example, if about 30 patients visited medical centers daily 10 days ago, this figure has now reached 6 people.”
The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Iran increased to such an extent before restrictions were imposed that the Hassan Rouhani government, despite being aware of citizens’ economic difficulties, agreed to implement restrictions.
However, multiple reports on social media indicate the negligence of some merchants and the semi-shutdown of their businesses despite government warnings.
Currently, 64 cities in Iran are in red status, 278 cities in orange status, and 106 cities in yellow status.
Source: Radio Farda
