Iran COVID-19 Infections Near 100,000

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s tally of confirmed coronavirus cases neared the 100,000 mark on Tuesday, after 1,323 new cases of the virus were identified overnight.

News ID: ۷۴۹۹۸۸

06 May 2020

As of Tuesday, fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic rose by 63 to 6,340, among a national total of 99,970 infections, Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour was quoted as saying by ISNA.

During his travel to Bandar Abbas to check up on the progress made in the fight against the outbreak in the southern city, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi expected the continuation of a declining trend over spring and summer, but a sharp rise in autumn.

Harirchi explained, “We estimate that overall, in the next two months and over the summer, the number of cases follow a declining trend, and only some provinces will see a rise in daily numbers.”

The health official added, “Due to the nature of autumn and the opening of schools, we expect higher rates of coronavirus transmission but not as high as they were in late February and March.”

Schools have been under lockdown since the early days of the outbreak when the contagion was detected in the central city of Qom. Students living in counties with low risks of virus transmission can return to school in the coming days.

Iran has carried out roughly 520,000 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests. More than 2,680 are in critical condition and nearly 80% of patients have recovered.

Iran is among the top five countries with the highest rates of recovery.

Dental Facilities Reopen

Dentists can partially resume practice across the country, as the national coronavirus taskforce has authorized emergency dental treatment.

According to Secretary of Health Ministry’s dental council, Behzad Houshmand, clinics are open to the public for emergency dental services only, but dentists in “White” zones can also perform elective procedures.

The Iranian government has divided the country into three zones, “white” where there are no more than one hospitalization per day for a two-week period, “yellow” where there are moderate numbers of infections and “red” where the COVID-19 caseload is alarming.

Regardless of the color of the zone, all dental facilities must comply with protocols devised by the Health Ministry.

Following an initial shortage in COVID-19-related supplies, Iran is now exporting testing kits to other countries nearly three months into the spread of the pandemic within its borders.

The country exported 40,000 coronavirus testing kits produced by one of its knowledge-based companies to Germany on Tuesday.

According to Behrouz Hajian Tehrani, CEO of Pishtaz Teb Zaman Company, the European Union has granted the CE marking to test kits made by the local company.

The knowledge-based firm has received orders for diagnostic testing kits from Turkey, Ecuador, Brazil and Spain.

Iran has also sent humanitarian shipments of medical equipment to its ally Lebanon, including 15 ventilators, 5,000 testing kits, 4,000 N95 masks, 2,000 gloves, 2,000 surgical facemasks and 1 ton of disinfectants, among other supplies.