Rising trend of Corona in Tehran; proposal for stricter quarantine

An official from Iran's coronavirus management headquarters warned about the increasing trend of the virus in some cities, including the capital. He said that the statistics in many cities are returning to the peak and that we must move towards stricter quarantine conditions.

Social restrictions caused by the spread of the coronavirus in Iran have been gradually being lifted since early May, with the belief that the country has passed the peak of the crisis and the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19 has been brought under control.

However, the deputy director of planning for the coronavirus disease management operations headquarters in the Tehran metropolis announced on Sunday, May 10, that the spread of the coronavirus in some cities, including the capital, has started to increase again.

Ali Maher told ISNA news agency that many people have ignored the disease despite warnings, and the statistics in many cities are returning to the peak.

He warned of a spike in the death toll in the coming weeks, saying: "If we had followed the 86 protocols announced, the infection rate would not have increased, but the protocols are probably unenforceable. These protocols do not work in urban areas such as the metro, and people are still moving in very close proximity to each other."

With the resumption of many businesses in early May, compliance with guidelines such as maintaining distance and wearing masks on the subway and buses, and some other health protocols, was declared mandatory. However, Iranian media reports in recent days indicated that these guidelines were either not being followed or that compliance with them, especially on the subway and buses, was essentially impossible.

Ali Maher, announcing that “it seems that we should move towards more stringent quarantine conditions,” emphasized: “The current situation is not desirable at all. The reduction from a thousand hospitalized people to less than 300 cases per day was due to the quarantine, strict measures, and people’s compliance, which continued until April 13. With the announcement of the protocols and the opening of the guilds, people forgot the protocols.”

The deputy director of planning at the Corona Crisis Management Command Headquarters in Tehran added: "Maybe it was a little too early for people to return to society."

He described the reopenings as a result of requests from a range of affected people and businessmen, saying: "The Tehran Coronavirus Task Force proposed floating office hours, and we have forwarded this proposal to the City Council, which is definitely helpful and we hope it will be approved."

Number of infected people exceeds 107,000 and state of alert in Khuzestan

Meanwhile, Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, announced the latest figures on the number of people infected with the coronavirus in Iran this Sunday afternoon.

Jahanpour announced the identification of 1,383 new COVID-19 patients in the past 24 hours, saying that with this new number, the total number of identified cases nationwide has reached 107,603.

"Unfortunately, 51 COVID-19 patients have died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from the disease to 6,640," Jahanpour said, adding that 86,143 patients have recovered and been discharged so far.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health called the situation in the entire country, except for Khuzestan, “stable” in terms of the rate of coronavirus infection, and said: “Except for Khuzestan, which is in a state of alert, the rest of the provinces are in a stable state and even declining in new cases of COVID-19.”

He continued: "We are witnessing a critical situation in Khuzestan province and also in Tehran, and in these provinces, especially in Khuzestan, we need the participation of the people so that we can get closer to managing the disease in these provinces in the coming days."

We don't know which direction the virus is moving.

At the same time, Health Minister Saeed Namaki, in an interview with Iranian state television, called on people to be careful because he does not know in which direction the coronavirus will move.

Namaki said: "Neither I nor anyone in the world can answer what this virus will do. We observe new conditions from this virus every day and we do not know in which direction the virus will move. People should be careful, but not with conditions that create panic and fear; I have always tried to give people hope while urging them to observe health precautions."

Noting that "we will have to spend a relatively long time with Corona," the Minister of Health added: "The coincidence of Corona and influenza in the fall may surprise us. Public opinion must be directed in a direction that does not lead to distress."

Pointing out that "this virus does not have its ancestral behavior," he stated: "We know of two types of predecessors of this virus, called SARS and MERS, both of which were weakened in hot weather. While now, with the coronavirus, we see that we are seeing a peak in the disease in a tropical province like Khuzestan. At present, it is still too early to say in which direction the virus will go."

Regarding the production of a vaccine and medicine for the coronavirus, the Minister of Health said: "Anyone who makes a claim about a vaccine for this year is making an exaggerated claim while we are working on it. Large teams are also working on the medicine in the world and in Iran, but so far no effective medicine has been reported for it."

Saeed Namaki also clarified in this interview that out of the one billion euros that was supposed to be allocated to the Ministry of Health from the National Development Fund to combat Corona, 300,000 euros will be made available to the Ministry of Health.

Pointing out that "this virus does not have its ancestral behavior," he stated: "We know of two types of predecessors of this virus, called SARS and MERS, both of which were weakened in hot weather. While now, with the coronavirus, we see that we are seeing a peak in the disease in a tropical province like Khuzestan. At present, it is still too early to say in which direction the virus will go."

Regarding the production of a vaccine and medicine for the coronavirus, the Minister of Health said: "Anyone who makes a claim about a vaccine for this year is making an exaggerated claim while we are working on it. Large teams are also working on the medicine in the world and in Iran, but so far no effective medicine has been reported for it."

Saeed Namaki also clarified in this interview that out of the one billion euros that was supposed to be allocated to the Ministry of Health from the National Development Fund to combat Corona, 300,000 euros will be made available to the Ministry of Health.

Source: DW