Coronavirus Casualties: 6,300 Cases, 75 Deaths

EghtesadOnline: Iran on Friday logged 6,300 fresh cases of the coronavirus and 75 overnight fatalities, as its Health Ministry warned against false hopes about containment of the pandemic.

News ID: ۷۸۵۸۱۳

23 January 2021

“The newly detected cases took the national tally to 1.36 million,” Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of Health Ministry, was quoted as saying by ISNA.

“Over the past 24 hours, 75 Covid-19 patients lost their lives, bringing the death toll to 57,225,” she added.

Raising concerns over public complacency, Lari pointed out that the situation with the deadly outbreak is still “fragile” and “unstable”.

“Our experience in the fight against the illness shows a direct link between a decline in adherence to health protocols and an increase in the number of fatalities. The fight against the disease continues,” she said.

Last week, the Health Ministry reported a 5% drop in compliance with mitigation guidelines, as several experts expressed dismay at reopenings and the hasty removal of restrictions.

As the third wave of infections subsided, the government began to ease restrictive measures, allowing intercity travel in many parts of the country and reopening high-risk businesses.

Some schools have also resumed face-to-face learning for the second semester, but all cities are still under a nightly curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Iran is expected to begin mass inoculation of its population within weeks while the local vaccine is estimated to be ready by the end of spring.

According to Lari, over 1.151 million have recovered from the respiratory illness or been discharged from hospitals and 4,134 are in critical condition.

“Iran has carried out more than 8.79 million diagnostic tests since the start of the pandemic,” she said.

The global toll has reached 98.1 million coronavirus cases and 2.1 million fatalities.