147: Iran’s biggest jump in fatalities 103-YEAR-OLD IRANIAN WOMAN MAKES RECOVERY

Berlin, March 18:

Tehran, March 18: Iran reported its single biggest jump in deaths from the new Covid-19 on Wednesday as another 147 people died, raising the country’s overall death toll to 1,135. The nearly 15 per cent spike in deaths — amid a total of 17,361 confirmed cases in Iran — marks the biggest 24-hour rise in fatalities since officials first acknowledged virus cases in Iran mid-February.

Still, even as the number of cases continues to grow, food markets were still packed with shoppers on Wednesday and highways crowded with traffic as families travelled between cities ahead of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, on Friday. Iran’s deputy health minister Alireza Raisi urged the public to avoid travel and crowded places. He told Iranians the coming period represented two “golden weeks” to try curb the virus from spreading.

He criticised people for not adhering to the warnings to stay home, saying the virus is very serious. “This is not a good situation at all,” he said. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday defended his government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the face of of widespread

Tehran, March 18: A 103year-old woman in Iran has recovered after being infected with the new Covid-19, state media reported, despite overwhelming evidence the elderly are most at risk from the disease. The unnamed woman had been hospitalised in the central city of Semnan for about a week, IRNA news agency said. But she was “discharged after making a complete recovery”, Semnan University of Medical Sciences head Navid Danayi was quoted as saying by IRNA late Tuesday. criticism that officials acted too slowly and may have even covered up initial cases before infections rapidly spread across the country. In a speech to his Cabinet, Rouhani said the government was “straightforward” with the nation, saying it announced the outbreak as soon as it learned about it on February 19.