Danger of Thousand Daily COVID-19 Deaths in Iran

Hassan Rouhani, by issuing a statement, says officials should act “without leniency” to counter the third wave of coronavirus. This comes as Health Ministry officials have warned of the danger of coronavirus deaths reaching a thousand people per day in the country.

The latest death toll from coronavirus in Iran has set a new record. According to the ISNA news agency, Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, reported 459 deaths and 12,543 new cases in one day. Thus, the official total death toll has reached 41,493 people and the total number of COVID-19 patients in the country has reached 762,068 people.

Presidential Statement

Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, issued a statement on Sunday, November 15, regarding the surge of the third wave of coronavirus in Iran. The statement says that, upon the proposal of the Health and Medical Services Ministry and the coronavirus operations headquarters, a “comprehensive plan to combat coronavirus” was approved at the national coronavirus headquarters, according to which the implementation of strict restrictions in various cities of the country is mandatory from next week.

According to IRNA news agency, this statement discusses in 8 points a “comprehensive mobilization of the nation and government” to fight coronavirus. All government departments and other powers and institutions have been asked to rush to assist the Health and Medical Services Ministry and the country’s medical staff by implementing the decisions of the national coronavirus headquarters with all available resources.

Rouhani has asked the Planning and Budget Organization to “urgently provide the necessary budget for the Health and Medical Services Ministry and other responsible agencies in fighting coronavirus” in implementing this plan.

The President has asked the Health and Medical Services Ministry to “fully and without leniency, implement the plan to monitor the quarantine of patients, identify contact networks, issue warnings, and if necessary, impose fines.”

He has asked the law enforcement and Basij forces to fully and without exception implement disciplinary decisions regarding social distancing regulations and strict health restrictions, and “officers should take action to fine a very small minority of violators who endanger the health security of society.”

Rouhani has “requested” from the people to consider compliance with coronavirus prevention regulations as their “religious and social duty” and not to show any negligence in this regard.

Proposal for Two-Week Tehran Shutdown

Mohsen Hashemi, head of Tehran City Council, referring to the Health Ministry’s warning about the danger of one thousand deaths per day, has said that the government should shut down Tehran for two weeks.

According to Hamshahri Online, Hashemi said, “By reducing working hours of businesses and the public transportation system, we have only created conditions for increased crowding, which is a factor in the spread of coronavirus. The proposal of Tehran City Council is a complete two-week shutdown of all non-essential activities to reduce citizen traffic.”

Mohsen Hashemi assured the President that this plan has been approved by experts from the health commission of Tehran City Council and the Tehran coronavirus response headquarters as well as the Tehran governorate.

The head of Tehran City Council, however, did not say what would happen to people’s livelihoods under conditions of a large city-wide shutdown like Tehran. The Rouhani government has so far provided no assistance to the people and is also unable to widely provide sanitary supplies to the people across the country.

A member of the Majlis health and treatment commission also says that during the 9 months since the coronavirus disease began, only 50 percent of the one billion euros that was supposed to be allocated to the Health and Medical Services Ministry has been realized.

MohammadAli Mohseni Bandpei, in a conversation with ILNA, regarding the implementation of business restrictions from 6 PM that has been applied by the national coronavirus fighting headquarters over the past week, says: “I believe that traffic restrictions and strict protocols should continue seriously; because if you look at the measures of countries that have been able to pay the least cost in response to the consequences of coronavirus, implementing these strict protocols has helped them.”

The representative of Nowshahr and Chalus adds, perhaps after 6 PM there would be less economic pressure on people: “We cannot tell people not to go to work and stay home because what will their lives be like? In my opinion, the time to start restrictions is independent of office and working hours, and we can ask people in society to stay at home; because their presence at home will certainly have fewer consequences.”

Source: DW