Iran reports record infections in 'third wave' of coronavirus
Iran reported record high coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a day after the health ministry warned the whole country was on red alert amid a 'third wave' of surging infections,
The ministry registered a record 4,151 new cases over the past 24 hours, a period in which 227 patients died.
The worst-hit country in the Middle East, Iran has now reported 479,825 Covid-19 cases and 27,419 deaths from the virus.
All of Iran’s 31 provinces are now considered hotspots, with the capital the worst affected city.
Tehran entered a partial week-long lockdown on Saturday, with face masks mandatory in public. Mosques, libraries, schools, and public institutions have been closed. Other cities across the country have also reimposed partial lockdowns.
Authorities have blamed citizens for the spread of the disease. On Saturday President Hassan Rouhani said only 53 per cent of citizens had observed containment regulations, including wearing masks and social distancing.
He threatened fines for non-compliance and warned that anyone who failed to self-quarantine for 14 days after testing positive for the virus would face “the highest punishment”.
Iran was one of the first virus hotspots outside of China early in the pandemic. Daily cases peaked at 3,186 at the end of March before officials managed to reduce the spread of the virus by May.
A second surge in June peaked at 3,574 daily infections but later subsided to fewer than 1,600 new daily cases by mid August.
The rapidly rising caseload has now seen over 3,00 new cases recorded every day since mid September.
“Iran was from the beginning one of the first countries with a substantial community-transmission driven national epidemic, that explains part of why Iran is continuing to be among the first countries to witness a surge,” said Christoph Hamelmann, the World Health Organization’s representative in Iran.
Noting that there was no formal definition for a “third wave” of a virus outbreak, Dr Hamelmann said cases in Iran would continue to rise “as long as there is no vaccine and as long as further complete lockdowns are not a social and economic option.”
China and 25 other nations have asked the US and other western countries to lift sanctions on Iran to help it fight the pandemic.
"We seize this opportunity to call for the complete and immediate lifting of unilateral coercive measures, in order to ensure the full, effective and efficient response of all members of the international community to Covid-19," read a joint statement by 26 countries at a meeting of the UN General Assembly's human rights committee published on Monday.
