Iran health chiefs warn of virus ‘catastrophe’

• 459 is record number of daily deaths • Medical leader doubts official figures

Iranians have been warned that they face a coronavirus catastrophe after the country recorded another record number of daily deaths.

A further 459 people had died from COVID-19, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Sunday, raising the death toll to 38,291. The official number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 9,236 to 682,486.

Most analysts believe government figures underestimate the true toll, and they were joined by the head of Iran’s Medical Council, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi. He said he doubted the accuracy of the official statistics, and warned that Iran had reached a “catastrophic mortality rate.”

Iran was slow to react when the virus took hold in February, and clerics urged pilgrims to continue visiting shrines in the cities of Mashhad and Qom. It is now the worst affected country in the Middle East.

To halt a “third wave” of the virus, the regime in Tehran has closed schools, mosques, shops and restaurants in most of the country. Authorities have said coronavirus tolls will spike again if Iranians fail to respect preventive measures such as social distancing and wearing face coverings in public.

In Saudi Arabia, despite warnings on Sunday of a possible spike in cases with the onset of colder winter weather, the virus appears to be largely under control. The Kingdom recorded 363 new cases, increasing the total to 350,592, and the death toll rose by 15 to 5,540.

Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 50 million people and killed nearly 1.26 million. A “second wave” of the virus in the past 30 days accounted for a quarter of the total cases.

October was the worst month for the pandemic so far, with the US becoming the first country to report more than 100,000 daily cases. A surge in Europe also contributed to the rise.

The latest seven-day average shows global daily infections are rising by more than 540,000.

The pandemic’s recent acceleration has been ferocious. It took 32 days for the number of cases to rise from 30 million to 40 million, but only 21 days to add another 10 million.

The US, with about 20 percent of global cases, is facing its worst surge. On Monday, Presidentelect Joe Biden is expected to appoint a 12-member task force to deal with the pandemic.