The sale of public transportation tickets to intercity passengers without vaccination cards or negative PCR tests is banned, according to the director general of Passenger Transport Department of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization.
“As per the new regulation, all people willing to use intercity buses or taxis must have vaccination cards indicating that they have received at least two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, or a negative PCR test conducted within 72 hours prior to their departure,” Daryoush Baqerjavan was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The official noted that information on passengers’ vaccination status will be checked on the Health Ministry’s database to ensure nobody posing a potential hazard uses public transportation.
The raging Omicron variant of the coronavirus placed the capital Tehran on red alert as Covid hospitalizations increased and elementary schools across the province were temporarily ordered to close to curb transmission rates.
Tehran Governor-General Mohsen Mansouri said on Wednesday that the Omicron variant had spread throughout the country and in the capital, ISNA reported.
Over the past few days, the number of outpatient visits have risen by 78% and hospitalizations by 61%.
The official ordered Tehran’s elementary schools to switch back to distance learning until further decisions are made.
Tehran’s elementary schools had resumed in-person learning for less than a semester. Universities and high schools remain open but they could also be subject to closures if infection rates continue to spike.
Masoud Mardani, a member of the National Coronavirus Headquarters, called for the closure of schools until the end of the Iranian year less than two months from now.
He noted that given the rise in red cities, Covid restrictions should be imposed, including school closures and a ban on cultural, scientific and social gatherings.
“We could return to bitter Covid days and more lockdown measures,” he added.
At least 42 cities across Iran have been placed on red alert and 142 have been color-coded as orange, or high-risk.
Iran eased lockdown measures in autumn when the fifth wave of the pandemic, fueled by the Delta variant, subsided.
