patient infected with the COVID-19 virus at a hospital in Tehran on
March 1, 2020. A plane carrying UN medical experts and aid touched
down on March 2, 2020, in Iran on a mission to help it tackle the
world’s second-deadliest outbreak of coronavirus as European powers
said they would send further help. KOOSHA MAHSHID FALAHI / MIZAN
NEWS AGENCY / AFP
Iran on Monday announced 337 deaths from the novel
coronavirus, a record high for a single day in the Middle East
country hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Today we are facing a larger wave of this virus and we have to
fight it,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised meeting
with health officials.
Rouhani called on the health ministry to increase the number of
daily Covid-19 tests, to help reduce the spread of infections.
The latest deaths brought to 30,712 the total number of
fatalities since Iran reported its first coronavirus cases in
February.
Iran’s previous record death toll for a day was 279 announced
last Wednesday.
Iran said the total number of infections in the country reached
534,631 on Monday, with 4,251 people testing positive in the past
24 hours.
Deaths and infections from the virus have been on a rising
trajectory in Iran and recorded several new highs since early
September.
personnel, wearing protective gear, work at the quartine ward of a
hospital in Tehran on March 1, 2020. KOOSHA MAHSHID FALAHI /
MIZAN NEWS AGENCY / AFP
“One of the key solutions is identifying the infected as quickly
as possible, isolating them as quickly as possible, and thus to
reduce the need for hospitalisations and also reduce mortality,”
Rouhani said.
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“It’s not a problem if infections go up (due to increased
testing), but it is important that the death rate does not.”
The virus figures were also likely to be higher than officially
reported, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi acknowledged last
week, primarily due to testing and reporting protocols.
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the latest
spike in deaths was “unprecedented” and a result of poor compliance
with health and mask protocols.
University student Ali Mohammadi agreed that the public were
flouting health regulations ever since the economy gradually
reopened.
“People are being less careful, whatever job they have. And they
can’t really be blamed since the government has not helped them,”
the 22-year-old told AFP.
“The main reason that numbers go up is that people either have
to go to work and bring food to the table, or stay home and don’t
contract the virus but die from hunger,” said a programmer named
Sina Rouhani.
It is “like a saw stuck in a body. No way forward, no way back,”
he added.
Iran is struggling with economic difficulties due to crippling
sanctions reimposed by US President Donald Trump in 2018, after he
unilaterally withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement between
Iran and world powers.
Earlier this month, Iran began imposing fines for the first time
for breaches of health rules in the capital.
Tehran and four major cities were partially sealed off from last
Thursday to midday Sunday in a bid to dissuade Iranians from
travelling during holidays.
Authorities in the capital ordered the closure of most public
places from October 3.
AFP
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