Covid-19 Cases Hit Record High, Surge Past 900,000

Iran’s tally of Covid-19 infections surged past 900,000, as the country reported its largest single-day jump in cases on Friday, prompting the government to further tighten restrictions to stem the spread of the disease.
“A record high of 14,000 tested positive for the novel coronavirus within 24 hours, taking the national total to 922,000,” the spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, was quoted as saying by IRNA. 
“A further 406 fatalities in the past 24 hours has pushed the toll to 47,095,” she added. 
To tackle the growing number of cases and deaths, Iran has decided to close down all offices directly or indirectly tied to the government for a week starting Saturday. 
The National Coronavirus Taskforce launched a new scheme last Saturday by enforcing stringent measures so as to prevent hospital beds from running out. 
The plan required the presence of fewer employees in office, which had not noticeably reduced the number of commuters using public transportation.
Six days since the start of the new lockdown measures, Iran’s law enforcement force said 219,000 text messages have been sent to drivers who violated the safety protocols. 
The government has also imposed a nighttime curfew in red cities to curb the number of private social events, which are estimated to account for 51% of virus transmissions, according to health officials. 
Fines have been handed to 51,000 cars that breached the 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew.

35% of Iran Fatalities Due to Covid-19

Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi told IRNA on Tuesday that 35% of fatalities in Iran are caused by the coronavirus. 
“Some 400 to 500 die daily and 75% of deaths occur among people over 60,” he said. 
Lari said over 640,000 have so far recovered from the respiratory illness and 5,860 are in critical condition. 
Iran has administered 5.99 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic. 
Harirchi announced that starting next week, they will distribute rapid testing kits throughout the country. 
These rapid tests can show whether someone has been infected with Covid-19 in 20-30 minutes, which can boost containment efforts. 
“The testing capacity will rise to 60,000 per day,” the health official added. 
Iran currently carried out 40,000 tests per day. 
Harirchi was optimistic that they could further increase daily testing to 100,000. 
The number of worldwide infections rose to 61.44 million on Friday and death toll reached 1.44 million.