New Coronavirus Record in Iran; Alarm Bell for People and Policymakers
Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson announced the identification of 11,780 new coronavirus patients and 462 deaths in the past 24 hours. He stated that the new figures represent a serious warning bell for the country’s people and policymakers.
For the second consecutive week, coronavirus statistics in Iran have reached a record high. According to Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson, during the past 24 hours, 462 COVID-19 patients died, and the total death toll from the disease reached 39,664 people. The official number of deaths announced the previous day was 453.
Simasat Lari also stated that based on definitive diagnostic criteria, 11,780 new patients were identified in the country yesterday, of which 3,339 were hospitalized. With this count, the total number of COVID-19 patients in the country has increased to 715,068. The number of new cases announced the previous day was 10,339.
According to the Health Ministry spokesperson, so far 536,105 patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals. He reported the number of patients in critical condition as 5,601.
The Health Ministry spokesperson has declared the status of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Razavi Khorasan, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamadan, Yazd, and Kurdistan provinces as red.
Coronavirus Alarm Bell for People and Policymakers
The Health Ministry spokesperson, while expressing regret over the renewed record-breaking death toll from coronavirus, said: “Certainly, as long as our hospitalizations in medical centers are increasing, we must continue to witness high numbers of deaths from coronavirus in the country.”
Simasat Lari told the “ISNA” news agency: “Unfortunately, today we also witnessed the recording of a new record in the number of deaths of our dear compatriots due to coronavirus infection.”
He added: “As you can see, the number of daily hospitalizations in the country in recent days has reached its highest level since the outbreak of the disease, which can be considered a serious alarm bell for our people and policymakers.”
Lari emphasized: “Certainly, as long as our hospitalizations in medical centers are increasing, we must continue to witness high numbers of deaths from coronavirus in the country.”
In Asia and among countries in the region, Iran has one of the highest coronavirus infection rates. However, due to economic considerations, serious restrictions to contain the new wave are not being imposed. Recently, health experts had called for a two-week shutdown, but the government refrained from implementing it due to its economic consequences.
On the other hand, the number of diagnostic tests and hospital capacities for treatment are far lower than many Asian and Middle Eastern countries. The maximum number of daily tests in Iran is between 20 to 25 thousand people, while this number in the neighboring country of Turkey is more than 140 thousand tests per day.
Source: DW
