COVID-19 restrictions to ease in Tehran today: Official
After an improvement in Tehran’s COVID-19 situation, the Iranian capital is coded orange in terms of the spread of the virus and will see a relaxation in some of the restrictions as of today, said the province’s deputy governor general.
As part of the loosening of the restrictions, sensitive and essential businesses are required to be operating with at least 70 percent of the employees back in office, and other businesses with half of the staff on duty in person, Gholamreza Abbas-pasha told IRNA on Friday.
Investigations, he added, show that 73 percent of employees in public organizations observe the health protocols, which is a favorable rate.
On Wednesday, the head of the Iranian capital’s anti-coronavirus task forcesaid COVID-19 patient referrals to medical centers in Tehran reached 5,800 over the past 24 hours, reflecting a declining trend compared to the previous week.
Dr. Alireza Zali added that 1,300 patients were discharged from Tehran’s hospitals on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
Daily deaths declining
The Iranian Health Ministry announced in a statement on Friday that the number of the country’s daily COVID-19 deaths and infections during the past 24 hours continued a declining trend started since a few days ago, reaching 200 and 11,250 respectively.
On Thursday, the ministry put the figures at 229 and 12,428 respectively, while, on Wednesday, it announced that they stood at 233 and 12,789, IRNA reported.
It said the total death toll and infections stand at 78,194 and 2,815,882, respectively, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in late February 2020.
The country has been struggling with the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks that caused it to see daily record-high deaths and infections of above 450 and 21,000, impose a partial lockdown in very high-risk cities, and shut down certain businesses and public places.
The Friday statement said 5,015 COVID-19 patients are in critical condition in the country and, of the newly detected cases, 1,532 individuals have been hospitalized.
The ministry added that a total of 2,304,824 COVID-19 patients have so far either recovered from the disease or been discharged from the country’s hospitals. It said three cities in the country are coded red (very high-risk) in terms of the coronavirus spread, while 262 cities are in the orange (high-risk) zones, noting that based on a decision by the anti-coronavirus task force, travel to and from these cities is prohibited.
The number of the country’s yellow (medium-risk) and blue (low-risk) cities are 183 and zero, respectively, according to the statement.
The ministry also announced that 18,683,814 coronavirus diagnostic tests have so far been carried out in the country, and 2,867,966 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been given to people.