Corona in Iran; New Record of Cases, Possibility of Extension of Restrictions

For the third consecutive day, the number of new coronavirus cases in Iran exceeded four thousand, setting a new record. The head of the corona response headquarters in Tehran asked the health minister to extend restrictions in the capital for another week.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday afternoon, Mordad 17, that in the past 24 hours “based on definitive diagnostic criteria” 4,392 new cases of coronavirus were identified in Iran.

Sima Sadat Lari said during this period 230 patients with COVID-19 lost their lives and the death toll reached 27,888.

This is the third consecutive day that the number of cases exceeded four thousand, and such a trend has not been seen since approximately 200 days ago when the coronavirus outbreak in Iran was officially confirmed. Accordingly, the number of coronavirus cases in Iran reached 488,236.

Following a new wave of coronavirus outbreak in Iran, which is much more severe than the previous two waves, the situation in some regions, particularly the metropolis of Tehran, is being assessed as critical and concerning.

Request to extend restrictions in Tehran Province

With increasing warnings from health officials about the sharp rise in the number of cases and the filling of ICU bed capacity, the National Corona Management Headquarters, after some hesitation, finally agreed to implement restrictions and ban certain activities in Tehran Province from Saturday for one week.

The commander of coronavirus disease management operations in the metropolis of Tehran, on the eve of the end of restrictions, requested in a letter to Health Minister Saeed Namaki to extend them for another week.

According to ISNA news agency, Alireza Zali reported in this letter about the increase in outpatient visits, new hospitalizations, critical patients in special units, and the rise in deaths from COVID-19 patients, and described Tehran’s situation as critical.

Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of Tehran City Council, had said several days ago that Tehran’s closure should last at least two weeks to be effective in breaking the chain of transmission and virus spread.

Tehran one step away from a coronavirus tsunami

Hashemi warned in a Twitter message that Tehran is one step away from a tsunami of coronavirus deaths and a one-week closure of some businesses is a conservative and ineffective measure.

Nahid Khodakaram, head of the council’s health committee, emphasized on Wednesday that given the sharp increase in the number of patients requiring hospitalization in intensive care units, one-week restrictions are far too little and considering the duration of the disease, this should continue for at least one month.

She told ISNA: “It is true that the government thinks about the economic consequences of restrictions, but it is necessary for officials to make decisive and urgent decisions so that the disease chain is broken and the medical staff can catch their breath.”

Hassan Rouhani’s government, due to the severe economic recession that Iran was already facing before the coronavirus outbreak, does not have the capacity to support closed businesses and therefore resists increasing restrictions as much as possible.

Possibility of three to five-fold increase in cases

Alireza Zali warned on Friday in a television program that if the coronavirus outbreak situation in Tehran and the “exponential course of the disease” continues in its current form, we should expect a three to five-fold increase in the number of cases and a 1.5 to 3 percent increase in the death rate.

According to Health Ministry statistics, the number of cases in the past 24 hours increased by 840 compared to Friday, and the death toll increased by 43.

In recent weeks, the number of cases and deaths on some days slightly decreased compared to the previous day, but the overall trend has been increasing. In approximately the past seven and a half months, the highest number of deaths in one day was Wednesday with 239 deaths, and the highest cases were today.

Source: DW