Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Ayatollah: Virus battle above all else
Iran sees run of highs in single-day deaths
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader Saturday urged authorities to prioritize public health above any economic or security concerns amid the Mideast’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus.
Iran’s death toll from the global pandemic topped 32,000 this past week. The government has resisted a total lockdown fearing it would devastate its economy, already weakened by U.S. sanctions.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told officials during a meeting with the country’s counter-coronavirus committee that “the main priority in decision-making is people’s health.”
Khamenei urged “all organizations” to follow strictly the health ministry’s guidelines to help restrict the virus’s spread “regardless of other considerations.”
Some hard-liner lawmakers have criticized Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s management of the pandemic and demanded his resignation.
Lawmaker Mojtaba Zolnouri, who heads parliament’s committee for national security and foreign policy, called on his Twitter account for Rouhani’s “hanging a thousand times until people’s hearts are satisfied.”
Khamenei indirectly condemned such inflammatory statements in the meeting, calling it “wrong.” He said there is a difference between criticisms and insults.
Iran shattered its single-day death toll record on Monday and recorded consecutive daily infection highs on Tuesday and Wednesday — then again on Friday.
A health official stressed this past week that the true number of deaths from the outbreak is likely 2.5 times higher.
On Saturday, the Iranian health ministry put the official death toll from COVD-19 at 32,320, adding 335 casualties from the past 24 hours.
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari raised the total number of confirmed cases to 562,705.
Iranian health minister Saeed Namaki said in the meeting that the pandemic could be controlled only by enforcing tighter restrictions.
“We must curb the disease by enforcing regulations and tightening legal restrictions,” he said.
In other developments:
Polish President Andrzej Duda, 48, said he feels well despite testing positive for the coronavirus, and he apologized Saturday to everyone who must quarantine because they had contact with him.
■ Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is in self-isolation for five days as a precautionary measure. The Algeria presidency said coronavirus symptoms appeared amid several high-level officials at the presidency of the republic and the prime minister’s office.
■ The mayor of Istanbul has tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesman for the city municipality said Saturday. Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has undergone treatment in hospital, and his condition is good, spokesman Murat Ongun says in a tweet.
■ Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Anze Logar has tested positive for coronavirus as the government shut down nonessential shops, kindergartens and hotels Saturday to try to stem the latest outbreak.
■ India reported 53,370 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally past 7.8. million. The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 650 deaths, driving the country’s toll to 117,956. The highest number of new infections is coming from Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka states.