Iran: No End in Sight for Covid-19

Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei on Wednesday underlined adherence to health protocols amid coronavirus, stressing that there is no certainty over when the pandemic will end. 
“We need to follow health protocols,” Rabiei said on the sidelines of the weekly Cabinet meeting, ISNA reported.
He, nevertheless, noted that the government will impose quarantine measures wherever infections start to spike. 
The National Coronavirus Taskforce has closed down non-essential businesses in 89 counties across the country and reinstated lockdown disciplines in 25 provincial capitals to slow down the deadly outbreak. 
“If safety guidelines are observed and the public cooperates, we are hopeful of a decline in death rate over the next few weeks,” Rabiei said.
“Iran reported a further 419 deaths due to the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the national toll to 36,580,” Health Ministry’s Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Lari said 8,450 contracted the coronavirus within 24 hours, one-third of whom required hospitalization, taking the tally of cases to 646,000.
“Over 5,400 are in intensive care units and 500,400 have either recovered from the respiratory disease or been discharged from the hospitals,” she added.
Iran has carried out 5.07 million diagnostic tests in the past eight months to identify infected cases.
Some 47.99 million have tested positive for Covid-19 worldwide and 1.22 million have lost their lives to it.