Iran mandates 6-day lockdown as cases surge

Iran is imposing a six-day lockdown in cities across the country after being hit by what it describes as its fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, state media reported Saturday.

The lockdown includes all markets and public offices, as well as movie theaters, gyms and restaurants in all Iranian cities. The isolation is to begin Monday.

The national coronavirus task force also ordered a travel ban between all Iranian cities starting Sunday.

Iran reported 466 deaths and 29,700 new cases of coronavirus patients on Saturday. That brought the total pandemic death toll to 97,208, and total confirmed cases to 4,389,085.

Iran is struggling to vaccinate its people against the pandemic. Like much of the world, it remains far behind countries like the United States in vaccinations, with only 3.8 million of its more than 80 million people having received both vaccine doses.

Many frontline medical workers have been vaccinated with Iran’s locally produced shots, or the Chinese statebacked Sinopharm vaccine that may be less effective than other inoculations.

So far, authorities have avoided imposing heavy-handed rules on a population badly equipped to bear them. Iran, which has suffered the worst virus outbreak in the region, is reeling from a series of crises: tough U.S. sanctions, global isolation, a heat wave, the worst blackouts in recent memory and protests over water and electricity shortages.

For now, the majority of Iranians receiving vaccines rely on foreign-made shots. A health ministry spokesman said that Iran could import Western vaccines “as long as they’re not produced in the U.S. or Britain.”

Demonstrators march in the French city of Bayonne to protest COVID-19 health passes that are now needed to enter restaurants, bars and arenas or use long-distance trains, planes or buses.

As of 7:30 p.m. Saturday CASES DEATHS

Bay Area

1,252

Bay Area

California

New cases, deaths reported since Friday