Alert Level in 96 Cities Lowered, Tehran Curbs Eased

The National Coronavirus Taskforce moved 96 cities across the country, including the capital Tehran, from the alert level “red” to “orange”, as restrictive measures introduced since last month began to reduce infections.
“Over the past two weeks, the number of red cities has declined from 160 to 64,” Hossein Zolfaqari, the head of the Social and Security Committee of taskforce, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Wednesday.
Tehran is among the list of cities that have changed status from red to orange, which means starting Saturday, most non-essential businesses can resume operations and only universities, schools, gyms, beauty salons, museums, wedding halls, zoos and the like are closed. Social events remain banned.
Zolfaqari said, “From now on, the status of coronavirus transmission in cities will be announced on Mondays and localized lockdown disciplines will adapt to the changes on Saturdays.”
The taskforce has also made alterations to the three-tier level of restrictions imposed depending on the extent of virus transmissions.
According to Zolfaqari, the 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew will now be enforced in both red and orange cities from Saturday for one week.
Tehran’s nighttime curfew and the presence of one-third of employees in government offices will continue for at least another week. The stringent measures have reduced city movements by 30% in the past two weeks.

Home Gatherings

Home gatherings are one of the main reasons behind virus transmission, Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s Coronavirus Taskforce, told IRNA.
“This undoubtedly plays an important role in the city of Tehran. I ask residents to be careful about holding gatherings.”
The nightly curfew placed on red and orange cities can dissuade many from organizing or attending in-home gatherings.
According to Zali, the police has handed out fines to 33,000 vehicles entering Tehran and to 25,000 cars breaking curfew rules. 
Travel to and from red and orange cities is prohibited in Iran and violators are penalized.
“The total number of coronavirus infections climbed to 989,000 on Wednesday, up by 13,600 compared to a day earlier,” Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.
“Over the past 24 hours, 362 Covid-19 patients lost their lives and the death toll rose to 48,990,” she added.
Lari noted that over 688,000 have recovered from the infectious disease and 5,820 are in critical condition.
Iran has administered some 6.2 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken nearly 1.5 million lives and infected 64.3 million worldwide.