Covid Restrictions to Remain in Place

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Tuesday that Covid-19 restrictive measures are to remain in place until concerns over the sixth wave of the pandemic are alleviated.   
“There is a chance more cities will be color-coded as red… We need to be alert over the sixth peak,” Vahidi was quoted as saying by ISNA. 
Several local officials from Tehran Province had earlier called for the lifting of the nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. since it had failed to deter family gatherings. 
Vahidi on Tuesday responded that nothing would change, for now. As more people are getting vaccinated, Iran plans to impose smart lockdown measures only for unvaccinated people. 
A pilot program was launched in provinces Qazvin, Kurdestan and West Azarbaijan to test the initiative before it is implemented nationwide. 
“We’ve seen good results with the smart plan,” the minister pointed out. 
A new research carried out by the Health Ministry showed that unvaccinated individuals were nine times more likely to be hospitalized or die from the contagion. 
According to a member of the National Coronavirus Headquarters, Payam Tabarsi, some 23% of the population have not been immunized against the deadly virus yet.