Overnight deaths caused by the coronavirus outbreak in Iran fell to its lowest in nearly two months, returning to just under 300, and confirmed cases sank below 12,000 for the first time in three weeks, as restrictions imposed since late October continued to slow transmission.
“Iran reported 294 deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, taking the national toll to over 50,310,” Health Ministry’s Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Within 24 hours, 11,561 Covid-19 patients were identified, pushing the total number to 1.04 million.”
The government began to impose restrictive measures to contain the infectious disease since late October, as the third wave of infectious has overwhelmed its healthcare system.
Authorities have since tightened health protocols by enforcing travel restrictions to and from regions hit worst by the pandemic, placing a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and by requiring the presence of fewer employees in government offices.
“The current circumstances should not be considered desirable and stabilized. Tehran’s status is fragile and concerning,” said Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s Coronavirus Taskforce.
The health official said the coronavirus is still taking lives in Tehran and both officials and the public should be wary of a resurgence.
“We are far from a relative decline in cases in Tehran,” he concluded.
The National Coronavirus Taskforce has moved Tehran from red alert to orange and reopened most non-essential businesses since Saturday.
Over 500 Infections per Hour
Data collected by the Health Ministry show that on average, 551 Iranians contracted the infectious virus every hour over the past 10 days, ISNA reported.
During the same period, 15 to 16 people lost their lives to the contagion and 406 recovered per hour.
On the status of cities across the country, Lari said, “Currently, 64 counties are on red alert, 278 are labeled orange and 106 counties are yellow.”
To soften blows to the economy and keep as many businesses as possible open, the taskforce classifies regions based on transmission rates to enforce localized lockdown disciplines.
More than 730,000 have recovered from the respiratory illness and 5,800 are hospitalized in intensive care units.
“Iran has administered 6.38 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic to track infected individuals,” Lari said.
Over 66.96 million have contracted the novel coronavirus across the world and 1.53 million have died from it.
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