Iran warns of lengthy ‘new way of life’ as virus deaths rise

President Hassan Rouhani has warned that “the new way of life” in Iran was likely to be prolonged, as its declared death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to 2,640.

Iran is one of the countries worsthit by the virus, which first originated in China.

Iran announced its first infection cases on Feb. 19, but a senior health official has acknowledged that the virus was likely to have already reached Iran in January.

At his daily news briefing, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 123 more people in Iran had died from the virus in the past 24 hours.

He reported 2,901 new cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing the overall number of officially confirmed cases to 38,309. According to the official, 12,391 of those hospitalized have recovered and 3,467 are in

FASTFACT

Iran announced its first infection cases on Feb. 19, but a senior health official has acknowledged that the virus was likely to have already reached Iran in January

“critical” condition.

“We must prepare to live with this virus until a treatment or vaccine is discovered, which has not yet happened to date,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a Cabinet meeting. “The new way of life we have adopted” is to everyone’s benefit, he said, adding that “these changes will likely have to stay in place for some time.”

After weeks of refraining from imposing lockdown or quarantine measures, Tehran decided Wednesday to ban all intercity travel until at least April 8.

Without an official lockdown in place, the government has repeatedly urged Iranians to stay home “as much as possible.”

Schools and universities in some provinces were closed in late February and the measure was later extended to the whole country.