Nearly 150 days into the coronavirus pandemic in Iran, the country’s death toll went past 14,000, as hard-hit regions extended lockdown measures to contain a second wave of infections.
Overnight fatalities caused by the viral disease reached 209 on Sunday, ISNA reported, the highest single-day rise in the past 20 days and only 12 short of the country’s all-time record.
The deaths reported on Sunday took the national total to over 14,180, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said during her daily coronavirus updates.
Lari said, “Some 2,180 confirmed Covid-19 cases were identified in 24 hours, 1,324 of whom were hospitalized,” adding that the fresh cases brought the number of infected people to 273,656.
According to the spokeswoman, 10 of the country’s 31 provinces are in the “red” zone, or have reported high virus transmission rates.
Lari noted that compliance with the government’s mask wearing law has reached 60% in the capital of Tehran, “but to control the disease, use of facemasks should near 100%”.
Following the resumption of economic activities, reduced public vigilance ushered in a second wave of Covid-19 cases, prompting the government to issue a nationwide mandatory mask wearing order in indoor public spaces.
Lari also said the Health Ministry is intensifying supervision over observation of coronavirus-related protocols and warned places of business against flouting safety guidelines.
The government has so far inspected over 50,000 business places and shut down 8,140.
Almost 238,000 patients have so far recovered from the respiratory illness and 3,556 are in serious condition.
To identify infected patients, Iran has carried out 2.14 million diagnostic tests in the past five months.
Tehran’s Statistics
Nahid Khodakarami, the head of the Health Committee in Tehran City Council, presented a comprehensive report on the status of the outbreak in the capital on Sunday, saying 7,100 coronavirus victims are buried in a cemetery south of Tehran, more than half of all nationwide fatalities.
According to Khodakarami, Tehran has gone from nine deaths a day in early May to 101 on Saturday, indicating a tenfold surge in less than three months.
The city official said, “A majority of Tehran’s Covid-19 patients complained of coughs and fever. Among the fatalities, most had fever and their main complaint was breathing difficulties.”
Khodakarami noted that the outbreak has not been contained in any part of the major city with a population over 13 million. Some 22% of the patients were in close contact with an infected individual and 67% had been present in public gatherings.
The average age of those who contracted the virus stood at 57 in Tehran, with a one-year old and a 100-year old being the youngest and the oldest patients.
The contagion has infected over 14.45 million worldwide, taking the lives of 606,000.
