“Today we experienced the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic,” Health Ministry’s Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying by ISNA.
She attributed the unprecedented increase in deaths to the significant rise in hospitalizations over the past few weeks and added, “Now more than ever, we need adherence to health protocols and solidarity among officials.”
The number of overnight deaths during the current third wave of infections is two times higher than the peak of the second wave when Iran hit a high of 235 deaths in late July.
To tackle the new wave of infections, Tehran’s City Council proposed a complete shutdown of the capital for two weeks but settled for a night curfew on nonessential businesses in provincial capitals.
Tehran’s coronavirus taskforce also put forward a list of 25 recommendations on how to contain the deadly outbreak in the metropolis, including a citywide lockdown, handing out fines for Covid-19 regulation breach and increasing the capacity of public transport system.
The proposal also calls for the closure of restaurants and coffee shops, monitoring city’s entry and exit points, remote working and a ban on the presence of employees who have developed coronavirus symptoms in the workplace, even before test results arrive.
Iran’s healthcare system is close to breaking point, as increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients require admission to hospitals.
Over 9,000 New Cases
For the second consecutive day, daily coronavirus infections remained above the 9,000 mark with the Health Ministry registering 9,263 newly detected patients on Sunday, Lari said.
The fresh cases, 30% of whom were admitted to hospitals, took the national tally to 682,486, the health official said.
Over 520,000 have recovered from the respiratory illness so far and 5,523 are in critical condition, she said.
Iran has performed 5.22 million diagnostic tests since the start of the outbreak to detect infections.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Sunday said rapid testing kits will reach Iran’s borders within one week.
“These tests need at most 20-30 minutes to show results and are 98-100% effective,” he said.
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide surpassed 50 million on Sunday and fatalities went past 1.25 million.