Health

Iran reports 100 daily Covid-19 deaths for first time in 2 months

Tehran, Jun 14 (efe-epa).- Iranian authorities reported more than 100 daily Covid-19 deaths on Sunday for the first time in two months, fueling fears a second wave has hit the country.

Sima Sadat Lari, a spokeswaman for the country’s health ministry, said 107 deaths and 2,472 infections have been detected in the last 24 hours.

The country was one of the first coronavirus pandemic hotspots outside of China, and a total of 187,400 confirmed cases and 8,800 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak emerged in the country in February.

Lari said that more than 2,700 patients are in a critical situation and have been admitted to intensive care units and that 1,244,074 diagnostic tests have been carried out in the country so far.

Iranian authorities imposed restrictions to bring the rate of infection under control.

These measures were gradually relaxed from April after a decline in fresh cases but the infection rate began to increase again in May.

The last time the daily number of fatalities was above 100 was on 13 April, before Sunday the figure had remained in double figures.

Lari said the “three-digit death toll is painful” and warned that “the virus is unpredictable and can surprise us at any time”.

She urged the population to respect health protocols, social distancing and avoid unnecessary trips.

The health official said the provinces considered to be high risk due to an increase in their number of infections are Hormozgan, Juzestan, Kordestan, Kermanshah, Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchistan.

The highest number of daily cases in the country was recorded on 4 June when 3,574 infections were detected.

Iranian health minister Saeed Namaki warned earlier this month that there could be “a dangerous peak at any time” if the population did not follow health protocols.

“If this situation continues, the death toll may again be three digits,” he said.

He cautioned at the time that a lot of the population and even authorities were no longer concerned about the pandemic.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday in response to the increasing number of infections that the government would re-impose restrictions such as the closure of shops, restaurants and mosques if it became necessary. EFE-EPA

mv-ar/rb

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