Two-week lockdown in Iran, an effort to control the spread of coronavirus
The total number of coronavirus victims in Iran has exceeded 40,000. The real number is much higher. The government wants to consider a two-week nationwide lockdown. Breaking the cycle of coronavirus spread is not feasible without adequate facilities.
According to Sima Sadat Lari, a spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health, the total number of coronavirus victims exceeded 40,000 on Thursday, November 12. In the past 24 hours alone, 457 people lost their lives to the disease. During the same period, 11,517 new cases of coronavirus were identified.
The total number of infected people in Iran to date, according to official statistics, is 726,585. 5,614 of the patients infected with Covid-19 are in severe condition.
According to the same report, 5,384,988 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Iran so far. This is a very small number for Iran's population of 80 million. In many countries, including Germany, over 1,500,000 tests are conducted every week.
According to experts and some government officials in Iran, field statistics on the death rate in hospitals and burials in cemeteries show that the actual number in this country is much higher than official statistics.
According to the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, 28 provinces of Iran are in red status, including Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azerbaijan, Markazi, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamedan, Yazd and Kurdistan. The provinces of Hormozgan, Fars, Golestan and Sistan and Baluchestan are also in orange and yellow status.
The trend is not decreasing.
According to Qasem Janbabaei, Deputy Minister of Health for Medical Affairs, a decision on a two-week shutdown in Iran is scheduled to be made on Saturday, November 14, at the National Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus. Referring to the plan to close groups of two, three, and four jobs, he said: "There are multiple loops in a one-month shutdown. Closing guilds alone cannot be effective. In addition, there is a travel ban, families are not present at family gatherings and celebrations and mourning ceremonies, wearing masks, observing social distancing and health protocols, etc. All of these must be observed together."
According to him, the transmission cycle of the coronavirus has a cycle that must be broken, otherwise it cannot be reduced to zero.
These occupational groups include all businesses and activities that are not directly related to the essential needs of the people, including shops that sell goods other than food, such as confectioneries, furniture stores, car dealerships, and many other businesses such as hair salons and beauty salons, gyms, universities, schools, cinemas, museums, and mosques.
Businesses that continue to operate include those that provide essential needs to people, such as hospitals, health centers, offices, pharmacies, fire departments, grocery stores, and supermarkets.
On Wednesday, November 11, a meeting was held in Tehran with the participation of Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, Tehran Governor Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpay, and Alireza Zali, Commander of the Corona Management. The Tehran Governor said in the meeting that he is in favor of a two-week lockdown of Tehran.
He also said that it has been approved that public transportation will operate until 8 p.m., and if the volume of passengers increases with the implementation of this resolution, its implementation should be reconsidered.
The plan to limit the hours of public transportation, like many other plans, requires creating sufficient facilities, that is, increasing these facilities for citizens so that they do not have to get to work in crowded subways and buses. Moreover, the two-week national shutdown requires creating a support umbrella for millions of families who are deprived of the minimum wage. The government has been unable to provide the necessary financial resources and facilities in both of these cases.
Organizing control patrols in the absence of sufficient facilities for complete closure
In the absence of sufficient facilities to protect the people, only plans such as police patrols to control the people are being implemented; the creation of teams to monitor the people's compliance with health protocols. The meeting was held on Wednesday with the participation of the Tehran Governor, the Shemiranat Governor, and representatives from the Semat, the Penal Service, the Trade Unions, and the police.
In this meeting, it was decided that 16 integrated teams would monitor the implementation of the resolution to close schools from 6 p.m. According to the Tehran governor, 100 police motorcycle teams were also activated to "remind and warn violators, and those who do not comply with the resolution despite being warned will be fined with the sealing of their shops."
According to the statistics he provided, on November 11, 45 percent of trades and occupational groups two, three, and four were closed from 6:00 p.m., and according to the Tehran governor, they "followed the decision." However, officials have increased the number of monitoring teams "so that all trades comply with the decision of the National Headquarters for Combating Corona to close from 6:00 p.m."
Source: DW
