Low Covid-19 Death Toll Linked to Young Population, Mass Testing

Expansion of testing and young population account for Iran’s lower mortality rate compared to countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, a health official said.
Aggressive screening, rapid isolation and effective treatment are some of the reasons for the low fatality among Iranians who have contracted Covid-19, ISNA quoted Ehsan Mostafavi, the head of Research Center for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases at Pasteur Institute of Iran.
“One determining factor is the younger population of the country. Median age in Iran is 31, while the number stands at 45 in Spain and 47 in Italy,” he added.
Spain and Italy are European nations hit hardest by the outbreak. The elderly suffering from underlying health conditions are more susceptible to serious illness and death from the infectious disease.
Mostafavi said the rise in screening capacity is one of the reasons for the “relatively sharp increase in cases”.
Iran has ramped up its testing capacity by 100% since the outbreak began, going from 10,000 daily tests to more than 20,000.
According to Mostafavi, nationwide reopenings and failure to adhere to social distancing measures have also contributed to the surge in numbers, which can result in the pandemic’s “peak” and “second and third waves”.
The official noted that the results of serological tests indicate that about 15 million Iranians could have already caught the virus, leaving more than 67 million vulnerable to the deadly virus. 
The tests use a person’s antibodies to check if they have had the disease.
Mostafavi, however, said the test results are not definite. 
The same research found that roughly 10% of those living in the capital of Tehran could have been infected so far.

Overnight Infections Stable

New coronavirus cases have stabilized in the past two days, with the country reporting an additional 2,095 infections on Tuesday, 900 of whom were hospitalized.
The new cases bring the national total to 175,927, ISNA quoted Health Ministry Spokesman Sima Sadat Lari. 
In a daily report, Lari said the number of deaths tied to Covid-19 reached 8,425, up by 74 from the previous day.
More than 138,000 have left hospitals or recovered from the respiratory illness. Over 2,600 are in serious condition. 
Iran has carried out 1.12 million coronavirus tests since the virus was first spotted in the central city of Qom more than three months ago. The healthcare system has stepped up its daily testing by 2.5%. 
More than 150 laboratories are equipped to conduct the test along with one-third of all private laboratories.
Director of World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday that six months into the pandemic is not the right time for governments to lift restrictions.
More than 7.21 million have been infected around the globe and 410,000 have died.