Health Minister Cautions Against Pandemic Complacency

Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Sunday night cautioned against false assumptions of a return to normality due to the recent drop in cases and deaths, noting that complacency could make the approaching winter harsher than autumn when an influx of Covid-19 patients overwhelmed hospitals across the country.
As the national tally of Covid-19 cases and deaths declined, Namaki warned that the situation is reminiscent of late April and May when the virus “tricked” authorities and the public into complacency, IRNA reported.
“We cannot make the same mistake twice. If we forget that this virus is dangerous and complicated, we’ll have to face another peak,” he said.
Iran managed to successfully contain the first wave of infections in early spring and subsequently dropped its guard against the pandemic, triggering a massive second wave.
Namaki said, “This time we are determined not to waver for even a second.”
The top health official referred to Tehran Province as his “foremost concern”, which has since Saturday been moved to alert Level Two, allowing most non-essential businesses to resume activities.
He also raised concerns over Iran’s northern and southern regions, reminding that cold weather drives residents of southern provinces indoors during winter.
“The virus has crept into villages in northern provinces,” and warned against social gatherings during the long winter nights.
Health officials have expressed concern over Yalda Night, held on Dec. 20 this year, when Iranians gather to celebrate the winter solstice. 
According to authorities, the tradition could trigger another wave of infections and fulfill the health minister’s gloomy prediction of a harsher winter.

Cases Fall Below 11,000

Coronavirus cases continued on its downward trend on Monday as the spokeswoman of Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, reported 10,827 infections, the lowest tally in almost a month.
She said the newly-identified cases has taken the national total to 1.05 million.
“The respiratory illness claimed the lives of 284 patients over 24 hours, bringing the death toll to roughly 50,600. Iran has carried out 6.43 million diagnostic tests since the start of the outbreak,” Lari said.
“Nearly 743,000 have recovered from the infectious disease and 5,796 are in critical condition.”
More than 67.5 million people have so far tested positive for Covid-19 around the world and 1.54 million have died from the contagious virus.