Iran’s Covid Deaths Surpass 40,000

Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Iran went past 40,000 on Thursday, as authorities mulled over shutting down cities hit hardest by the virus to give the country’s strained healthcare system some breathing room.

The Health Ministry announced the death of a further 461 coronavirus patients on Friday, taking the national toll to 40,582, Sima Sadat Lari, the ministry’s spokeswoman, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

“Some 11,730 tested positive for Covid-19 within 24 hours and 2,967 were admitted to hospitals,” she added, noting that the tally of cases now stands at 738,000.

President Hassan Rouhani during Thursday’s National Coronavirus Taskforce meeting said they are “reviewing a comprehensive plan” to stem the spread of the disease.

Health authorities have in recent days asserted that nothing short of a full lockdown would curb the outbreak.

Lari said 546,000 have recovered from the respiratory illness and 5,630 are hospitalized in intensive care units.

Iran has performed over 5.42 million PCR tests since the start of the pandemic, she added.

Coronavirus infections worldwide soared to 53.2 million on Friday, as the death toll exceeded 1.3 million.

On Thursday, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged against complacency in the face of the pandemic and warned, “We may be tired of Covid-19, but it is not tired of us.”