New coronavirus restrictions imposed in 13 Iranian provinces
Iran's Deputy Health Minister announced that new restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic will be imposed in 13 provinces of the country. These restrictions include various centers from museums and tourist attractions to educational and sports centers.
Apparently, as the Iranian President and some other officials have announced, the coronavirus pandemic in Iran is not under control. Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic, announced in an interview with Khabar Network that coronavirus restrictions will be lifted in 13 provinces of Iran based on a timetable.
He announced the names of these 13 provinces as follows: Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, West and East Azerbaijan, Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, Alborz, and Kerman.
The Deputy Minister of Health also explained that the centers subject to these restrictions are categorized into two groups: three and four. Group three includes universities, schools, seminaries, technical and vocational schools, language centers and other schools and libraries, kindergartens, indoor swimming pools, cinemas, theaters and similar centers, museums and museum gardens, reception halls, women's hairdressing salons and beauty salons, reduced operating hours of the metro and urban transportation, mosques and prayer rooms, and holding in-person exams.
Group four also includes these activities: holding social, cultural, religious ceremonies and conferences, sports clubs for high-contact sports including wrestling, karate and judo, boarding schools, teleworking for employees in sensitive groups, cafes, coffee shops, tea houses and tobacco supply centers, zoos and amusement parks, water recreation centers, indoor swimming pools and indoor sports clubs.
While the Deputy Minister of Health announced the closure of museums and museum gardens in 13 provinces of Iran, the Director General of Museums Affairs expressed ignorance of this decision and told ILNA News Agency: "Closing or not closing museums is subject to the decision of the National Coronavirus Headquarters, and such a decision has not been made yet. But if such a decision is made, we will implement it."
Increase in hospitalizations in Tehran
The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Health announced the daily number of people infected with the coronavirus on Wednesday, July 2. According to Sima Sadat Lari, 2,549 new patients have been identified in Iran in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people infected with the coronavirus in Iran to 230,211.
According to these statistics, 141 patients with COVID-19 have lost their lives in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 10,958.
Lari also said that the number of hospitalized cases in Tehran has increased significantly. According to him, the provinces of Khuzestan, Kurdistan, West and East Azerbaijan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khorasan Razavi, and Kermanshah are in red status, and the provinces of Isfahan, Hamedan, Zanjan, Kerman, North Khorasan, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad are in alert status.
According to this statistic, 3,081 patients with COVID-19 are currently in critical condition.
Source: DW
