Covid-19 Curbs Could Return as Overnight Infections Escalate

Amid a new surge in Iran’s daily count of Covid-19 cases, President Hassan Rouhani suggested restrictions could be reimposed to curtail the deadly pandemic.
Rouhani on Wednesday said public disregard for Covid-19 guidelines could lead to the return of containment measures, which will in turn disturb normal life and deliver a heavy blow to the economy, President.ir reported.
The remarks came a day before Iran reported a record single-day spike in infections.
“If the outbreak peaks in any part of the country, authorities will have no choice but to reintroduce restrictive measures,” the president said.
Since April, the government has cut back on confinement measures but ordered places of business to abide by protocols devised by the Health Ministry. Health officials have attributed the recent surge to the extensive reopenings as well as aggressive testing.
The national tally now stands at 167,156 diagnosed cases with at least 8,134 deaths. 

Rouhani reiterated his administration’s policy of fighting the infectious disease on Thursday, urging people to observe social distancing so economic activities could also resume.
“The society needs to believe that the future of coronavirus is uncertain. Therefore, people should adjust all aspects of their lives to the virus,” he added.
The president ordered the industries minister to produce and widely distribute a sufficient volume of facemasks.
During Thursday’s coronavirus taskforce meeting, the committee canceled the furloughs of prisoners that could pose a threat to the security of the country, but extended the temporary release of other inmates.
Following the reports of relatively safely-held Friday prayers in low-risk regions, the taskforce is planning to allow moderate-risk parts of the country to hold communal prayers on Fridays. 
Iran’s artistic scene will finally have an answer by June 20 when the taskforce will decide whether to allow the industry to resume activities.
Iran’s infections dropped on Friday with 2,886 overnight cases, down by nearly 20% from a day earlier when the nation registered an all-time high of over 3,500 cases.
“Some 80% of the new patients were in close contact with an infected person,” Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
Daily fatalities inched upward on Friday with 63 deaths. Nearly 130,000 have recovered or left hospitals. 
According to the health official, 2,573 are in critical condition. 
Iran has conducted over one million diagnostic tests to detect the virus.
Jahanpour said, “During the past 24 hours, 13 provinces reported no fatalities and five registered only one.”
The southeastern province of Kerman was on Friday added to the list of regions with alarming rates of Covid-19 cases.
More than 6.7 have so far contracted the virus throughout the world, more than 393,000 of whom have lost their lives.