Covid-19 Infections Inflate While Deaths Exceed 7,000

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak exceeded 7,000 on Monday, as the overnight cases surged by 27%, health officials announced.

News ID: ۷۵۰۰۷۶

19 May 2020

Fatalities from the viral infection rose by 69 on Monday to reach 7,057, Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour was quoted as saying by ISNA.

The Health Ministry’s data compiled from 31 Iranian provinces show that the country has added 2,294 new cases on Monday, the highest since April 5, taking the total tally to 122, 492.

Jahanpour said, “Khuzestan Province is still on red alert and roughly one-fourth of the daily cases are from the southwestern region.”

The official was hopeful of seeing the effect of confinement measures in the province in the coming days. The coronavirus taskforce will decide whether to extend the lockdown in the oil-producing region on Monday evening.

Jahanpour named Lorestan, North Khorasan, Kerman, Sistan-Baluchestan and Kermanshah as provinces with alarming rates of transmission that need to heed social distancing protocols and refrain from participation in large gatherings.

During his weekly press conference on Monday, Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei pointed out that Iran’s objective regarding the pandemic has evolved from management and control to constraint.

“Reports from the national coronavirus taskforce confirm that Iran has passed the two phases of management and control, and at present all health authorities are working to constrain the disease,” Rabiei added.

The spokesman also provided updates on the status of counties with high, moderate and low risks of virus transmission.

“Our ‘white’ zones have increased to 280 counties,” he said.

“White” counties numbered 132 when the scheme was first introduced.

The government split the country into three zones: “white,” with few reported coronavirus cases, “yellow” with moderate numbers and “red” where infection rates are alarming.

The initiative allowed the administration to prioritize relaxing confinement measures in different regions of the country based on the extent of the spread of the virus.

According to Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, Iran will also add “green” to its zones to describe coronavirus-free regions.

Third Highest Recovery Rate

Jahanpour said on Monday that 95,661 have recovered from the infectious disease so far which, according to the government spokesman, is the third highest recovery rate in the world after China and Switzerland.

Rabiei said, “Our average recovery is very good. Roughly 94% of those who have contracted the illness recovered while the global average rate stands at 84%.”

More than 2,700 are in critical condition.

Iran has carried out over 700,000 tests to identify Covid-19 patients across the country.

The pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 317,000 worldwide and it has infected 4.82 million people, nearly one-third of whom are from the United States.