Need to Prepare for Next Covid-19 Wave

Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Monday urged the public to obey coronavirus health protocols, warning that treating the issue as normal will “definitely” lead to another resurgence. 
Namaki said Iran needs to increase hospital beds, expand health infrastructure and secure adequate funding in preparation for the next wave of coronavirus infections, ISNA reported. 
“Healthcare personnel have worked day and night to reduce cases and deaths,” the minister said, adding that public disregard for mitigation guidelines will definitely give rise to a fourth wave of infections.
Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s coronavirus taskforce, also voiced concerns about the decline in adherence to health protocols, noting an almost 5% drop in following restrictive measures among the public over the past week.
“This means we are moving away from social distancing, which is a cause for alarm,” he said.
According to the official, the number of hospitalizations among those between the ages of five and 17 has been increasing steadily in the past two weeks, even before schools reopen for the second half of the school year.
Although the physical presence of students in schools across the country will not be mandatory, Zali said face-to-face learning could trigger another wave of infections.
“Iran reported 87 overnight deaths on Tuesday, bringing the pandemic’s total toll to nearly 57,000,” the spokeswoman of Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, said.
“Over 5,900 were confirmed to have contracted the infectious disease within 24 hours, taking the national number of cases to 1.342 million.”
Lari said more than 1.131 million people have recovered from the infectious disease and 4,270 are in critical condition.
“Iran has carried out more than 8.63 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic,” she said.
All 10 cities on red alert across the country are located in the northern Mazandaran Province, where health experts say non-adherence to safety measures, coupled with an influx of tourists, has contributed to the spike in hospitalizations and deaths. 
Global cases of the coronavirus increased to 96.1 million on Tuesday and fatalities crossed 2.05 million.