Covid Cases Cross 600,000

Iran’s total coronavirus infections surpassed 600,000 on Friday, including 48,000 who contracted the virus over the past week, as the deadly pandemic rages through the country.
“For the second day in a row, Iran logged over 8,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, taking the national total to nearly 605,000,” spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Within the past 24 hours, 365 coronavirus patients lost their lives and the death toll reached 34,478,” Lari added.
“Quarantine measures in 43 red counties in Iran are expected to produce results within the next two weeks,” Masoud Mardani, a member of National Coronavirus Taskforce, said.
“We are expecting to witness a drop in hospital visits within two weeks and a drop in the death rate in three to four weeks.”
Since last week, Iran stepped up efforts to contain the contagion by resuming lockdown disciplines in 43 counties hit hardest by the infectious disease. 
The quarantine measures include the closure of non-essential businesses for a one-week period. Despite high virus transmission rates in the capital Tehran, the metropolis was not subject to the partial shutdown. 
Tehran City Council for a second time submitted a proposal to the taskforce, requesting a two-week closure of the capital as hospitals in the overcrowded region scramble to admit a rising influx of patients.
“Our prime recommendation to the taskforce is, same as before, the closure of Tehran for two weeks,” the council’s spokesman, Ali Eta, posted on Twitter in the early hours of Friday.
Deputy Health Minister Qasem Janbabaei told ISNA on Friday that half of ICU beds and 10-15% of all hospital beds across the country are occupied by coronavirus patients.
“If infections continue to surge, we will have to use more hospital resources to treat Covid-19 patients,” Janbabaei said, pointing out that there is currently no shortage of medical ventilators and other related equipment to contain the outbreak. 
Lari said some 5,130 patients are in serious condition and 477,000 have recovered from the infectious disease.
Iran has performed 4.89 million diagnostic tests since the start of the outbreak. 
Worldwide, Covid-19 patients jumped to 45.42 million and the death toll reached 1.18 million.