Unprecedented daily coronavirus death toll in Iran; around 500 people

Since the official confirmation of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, no day has seen as many deaths as May 26. The fourth wave of the pandemic has engulfed Iran, as concerns about the arrival of the “Indian mutant virus” have increased.

The Public Relations Center of the Ministry of Health announced in a statement released on Monday, May 26, that 21,262 new cases of coronavirus infection have been identified in Iran in the past 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 496 patients with COVID-19 have died in Iran. This is the highest number of coronavirus victims in a single day in the past 14 months.

Previously, the highest daily number of coronavirus victims in Iran was related to the peak of the third wave, when 486 deaths were recorded among coronavirus patients on November 16, 2019.

Highest daily death toll after India and Brazil

With the victims of the past 24 hours, the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran has exceeded 70,000. During this period, only India and Brazil have had more daily victims than Iran. The number of deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours has been reported to be around 2,800 in India and around 1,300 in Brazil.

India has been grappling with a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent days, with some observers suggesting that a mutated strain of the coronavirus is not unaffected.

There is still no accurate and reliable information about the contagiousness of the mutated virus in India, but its possibility has led many countries to take precautionary measures and ban or limit travel to the country.

Warning about mutated virus in India

According to ISNA news agency, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Security Committee of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, warned on Monday: "Today, the important topic of discussion is the Indian coronavirus, which has raised alarm bells and travel to India must be stopped as soon as possible and all flights and land traffic must be canceled."

The new wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Iran began at the beginning of April and gradually increased in intensity, one of the manifestations of which was the sharp increase in the number of cities in red (very high risk) and orange (high risk) conditions.

According to the Ministry of Health's announcement on April 1, only 12 Iranian cities were in the red zone for coronavirus, a number that has increased more than 25 times since a week ago, reaching 301 cities.

Source: DW