Call for Extending Tehran Covid-19 Lockdown

EghtesadOnline: A health official has requested an extension of the one-week restrictive measures underway in n Tehran Province due to the “special circumstances” entangling the overpopulated region.

News ID: ۷۵۰۴۴۷

16 July 2020

Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s Coronavirus Taskforce, said it is the committee’s belief that the duration as well as the scope of lockdown measures implemented across Tehran need to be extended, ISNA reported.

Pointing out that reports on the spread of the pandemic in the province have caused “grave concerns” among the members of taskforce, Zali said, “Today, members stressed the need for swift and serious citywide interventions.”

“One-week restrictions will not suffice and the scope of restrictions should be broadened in the coming weeks,” he added.

On Monday night, the government gave the green light to local authorities to impose restrictions that involved the closure of high-risk business places such as beauty salons, gyms, wedding halls, mosques and cinemas, as well as a ban on any type of public gathering for one week.

Zali said, “We hospitalized 890 Covid-19 patients over 24 hours in Tehran, the complicated circumstances of which require a different approach.”

Nearly 200 died from the infectious disease in Iran in a 24-hour period, taking the nation’s death toll to at least 13,410.

According to Zali, more drastic measures are required to tamp down the resurgent virus, including bans on any gathering, seminars and exhibits involving over 10 people and the cancellation or postponement of national exams hosted in the capital.

The health official also asked for the supply of subsidized masks to the underprivileged, the use of which has reduced hospital visits in the past two days.

Last week, the government issued a mandatory mask wearing order in enclosed public areas to slow the contagion.

Tehran’s local officials are cracking down on businesses that are breaching safety guidelines, following reports of growing infections in the city.

“First-time violators are let off with a warning but further non-compliance leads to shutdowns,” Hamidreza Goudarzi, deputy to Tehran’s governor general, said.

101 Infections Every Hour

Data compiled by Iran’s Health Ministry indicate that over the past 10 days, 101 contracted the contagious disease every hour and 109 recovered.

Over the same period, nearly eight Iranians died per hour.

Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 2,388 fresh cases of the respiratory illness were identified by Wednesday noon, pushing the total tally to 264,561. Some 1,755 of the new patients were hospitalized due to severe symptoms.

Iran has administered 2.04 million diagnostic tests in the past five months to detect infections. Over 3,410 patients across the country are in critical conditions and more than 227,000 have recovered.

Global coronavirus cases exceeded 13.5 million on Wednesday. The contagious disease has so far taken the lives of 583,000.