107-year-old woman recovers from coronavirus
TEHRAN: A 107-year-old Iranian woman who was infected with the new coronavirus has recovered, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
The woman, Saltanat Akbari, was admitted to the Khansari hospital in the central city of Arak. She was released from the hospital after spending “some time” in isolation.
“She defeated the virus with the help of doctors and nurses at the hospital,” Fars said.
Iran is one of the most affected countries in the Middle East with a total of 133,521 infected cases and 7,359 deaths.
Shiite Iranians in a rare event will mark the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan this year on separate days — Sunday or Monday — depending on different religious authorities’ edicts.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Saturday evening on his official website that the Eid Al Fitr festival will fall on Sunday this year. But the country’s other senior Shiite clerics, or “marjas” — whose guidance believers follow and are seen as a “source of emulation,” such as Javadi Amoli, Makarem Shirazi and Safi Golpayegani, among others — have issued separate statements saying the holiday will be celebrated on Monday.
The timing of Eid is determined by the position of the moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar.
In practice, due to the political system of the Islamic republic, almost all open religious sites — affiliated with the state — marked Eid on Sunday.
A minority branch of Islam, Shiism has been the state religion in Iran since the early 16th century. The Sunni minority in the country celebrates Eid on Sunday, in line with most of the Muslim world.
In the capital Tehran, where many mosques remain closed as part of measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, worshippers took part in morning prayers while trying to respect social distancing rules, according to
AFP journalists.
Collective prayers are still banned in principal in the city due to the pandemic, but special dispensation has been granted for Eid Al Fitr. The holiday was also marked by the traditional pardons granted to prisoners by the supreme leader.
According to the judiciary’s official news agency Mizan Online, 3,721 convicts, including a number of people “sentenced for crimes related to state security” were granted pardons.