Covid-19 Curbs ‘Likely’ to Return to Tehran

Tehran is “likely” to see a return of coronavirus restrictive measures next week, following reports of a surge in cases and hospitalizations across the capital, a member of the province’s coronavirus headquarters said on Monday.
“To prevent another peak of the disease … certain restrictions will most likely be reimposed next week,” Nader Tavakkoli was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
Pointing to the reopening of cinema theaters and swimming pools, he noted that another peak of the pandemic is a “certainty” if the government continues to lift restrictions.
Alireza Zali, the head of the city’s coronavirus taskforce, said hospitalizations in the capital of Tehran spiked to new-highs compared with previous weeks, with as many as 2,100 new patients admitted to hospitals in one day.
Zali warned, “If this trend continues over the next few days, we could be on the verge of another resurgence of the virus in the province of Tehran.”
According to Tavakkoli, business reopenings, simplifying the complex circumstances and a decline in adherence to health protocols have contributed to the rise in cases. 

Mass Vaccination to Begin in 2022

Iran’s mass inoculation program is set to start one year from now in the winter of 2022, a member of the National Coronavirus Headquarters announced on Monday. 
Mostafa Qanei, the head of the headquarters’ Science Committee, said the vaccination of health personnel and high-risk groups will begin in a few days but mass inoculation will not commence before winter 2022. 
“As per this plan, some 16 million doses will be procured via COVAX, over 25 million through imports and 25 million shots will be locally manufactured,” he said. 
COVAX is global initiative backed by the World Health Organization, which aims to secure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for low-income nations.
“Some 6,600 were reported to have contracted the deadly virus on Monday, pushing the tally of cases to 1.424 million,” Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of the Health Ministry, said. 
“Over the past 24 hours, 79 Covid-19 patients lost their lives, bringing the national death toll to 58,038,” she added.
Lari noted that 1.21 million have recovered from the respiratory illness and 3,890 are in critical condition. 
“Iran has administered more than 9.34 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic,” she said.
Worldwide coronavirus cases soared to 103.6 million and fatalities caused by the disease reached 2.23 million.