Minister: Iran to Make Masks Mandatory
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran announced on Sunday its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus with 251 confirmed dead, the same day local media reported two senior officials had been infected.
Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said the total confirmed death toll now stands at 28,544, making Iran the hardest-hit country in the region. Iran had just recently recorded its highest daily death toll four days earlier with 239 new fatalities.
A further 3,822 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hour-period, raising recorded nationwide cases to 500,075. Nearly 4,500 patients are in critical condition.
Among those recently infected is the head of the country’s atomic energy organization, the latest senior official to test positive for the virus.
The Tasnim news agency said Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also a vice president of Iran, had confirmed positive for the virus last week and has been in home quarantine since. The news agency reported that his health condition is currently good.
A separate report by the news agency said the country’s vice president in charge of budget and planning, Muhammad Baqer Nobakht, had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
IRNA said both Salehi and Nobakht were in a "good” health condition on Sunday.
Iran has struggled to contain the spread of the virus across this nation of 80 million people amid the most aggressive U.S. sanctions, initially beating it back only to see a spike in cases again, beginning in June. The government has largely resisted imposing wide-scale lockdowns as the economy grapples with the sanctions that effectively bar Iran from selling its oil internationally and other economic activities.
Money exchange shops in Tehran sold the U.S. dollar at 315,000 rials on Sunday, compared to what was 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said the total confirmed death toll now stands at 28,544, making Iran the hardest-hit country in the region. Iran had just recently recorded its highest daily death toll four days earlier with 239 new fatalities.
A further 3,822 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hour-period, raising recorded nationwide cases to 500,075. Nearly 4,500 patients are in critical condition.
Among those recently infected is the head of the country’s atomic energy organization, the latest senior official to test positive for the virus.
The Tasnim news agency said Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also a vice president of Iran, had confirmed positive for the virus last week and has been in home quarantine since. The news agency reported that his health condition is currently good.
A separate report by the news agency said the country’s vice president in charge of budget and planning, Muhammad Baqer Nobakht, had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
IRNA said both Salehi and Nobakht were in a "good” health condition on Sunday.
Iran has struggled to contain the spread of the virus across this nation of 80 million people amid the most aggressive U.S. sanctions, initially beating it back only to see a spike in cases again, beginning in June. The government has largely resisted imposing wide-scale lockdowns as the economy grapples with the sanctions that effectively bar Iran from selling its oil internationally and other economic activities.
Money exchange shops in Tehran sold the U.S. dollar at 315,000 rials on Sunday, compared to what was 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Salehi is known internationally as one of the key Iranian negotiators who took part in those nuclear talks. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed the most draconian economic sanctions ever.
On Thursday, the U.S. blacklisted 18 Iranian banks that had so far escaped the bulk of re-imposed sanctions. The move subjects non-Iranian financial institutions to penalties for doing business with them, effectively cutting the banks off from the international financial system.
Iran plans to make mask-wearing mandatory in public in other large cities after imposing it in Tehran to fight rising coronavirus infections, the health minister said on Sunday.
Mask-wearing became mandatory in public in the capital on Saturday and President Hassan Rouhani announced that violators would be fined, as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.
"We have asked the police and the basij (paramilitary volunteers) and other agencies to help us .. fight violations more severely,” Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.
"It has been decided that this action would start from Tehran and will be extended to other large cities in the coming weeks,” Namaki said in remarks carried by state television.
Masks have been compulsory in indoor public spaces since July.
Schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran closed for a week on Oct. 3 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The city’s governor extended the closure on Friday for another week.
On Thursday, the U.S. blacklisted 18 Iranian banks that had so far escaped the bulk of re-imposed sanctions. The move subjects non-Iranian financial institutions to penalties for doing business with them, effectively cutting the banks off from the international financial system.
Iran plans to make mask-wearing mandatory in public in other large cities after imposing it in Tehran to fight rising coronavirus infections, the health minister said on Sunday.
Mask-wearing became mandatory in public in the capital on Saturday and President Hassan Rouhani announced that violators would be fined, as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.
"We have asked the police and the basij (paramilitary volunteers) and other agencies to help us .. fight violations more severely,” Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.
"It has been decided that this action would start from Tehran and will be extended to other large cities in the coming weeks,” Namaki said in remarks carried by state television.
Masks have been compulsory in indoor public spaces since July.
Schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran closed for a week on Oct. 3 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The city’s governor extended the closure on Friday for another week.