Daily Covid-19 deaths in Iran passed the 400 mark on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the epidemic, as Iran resumed lockdown measures in virus hotspots to contain the relentless spread of the disease.
Iran reported a high of 415 overnight deaths, setting a new daily record that pushed the national toll past 33,700, the spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“We are in an all-out war with the coronavirus,” the spokeswoman said, noting that a “shift in the beliefs and behavior” of authorities and the public is the only way to defeat the contagion.
Lari attributed the record-breaking death toll to an unprecedented rise in cases and hospitalizations over the past few weeks.
To contain the contagious epidemic, “Iran is importing three million rapid testing kits from South Korea, which produce results in 20 to 25 minutes,” Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.
Namaki said the imported kits, along with locally-manufactured rapid tests, will aid the early detection of Covid-19 patients, who can be then placed under surveillance by the ICT Ministry via mobile location data.
“By tracking patients, they cannot infect others. This major project can help reduce the fatality rate significantly,” he said.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted on Twitter early Wednesday that he has gone into self-isolation after contracting coronavirus from an employee. At least five member of Tehran City Council have also tested positive for the respiratory illness.
“The number of newly-detected cases dropped to 6,824, down by over 100 compared to a day earlier, taking the total infections to 588,600,” Lari said.
Lari said in her daily briefing that Iran has administered 4.82 million diagnostic tests so far and 468,000 have recovered from the infectious disease.
“For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the number of patients admitted to ICU in critical condition crossed the 5,000 mark,” she added.
Worldwide coronavirus cases rose above 44.3 million and the death toll reached 1.17 million.
