Iran has registered a new record of Covid-19-related deaths, with 163 dead, Iranian authorities announced on Sunday July 5. This is the second morbidity record in a week, as the new coronavirus epidemic continues to gain ground in the country, the hardest hit by the pandemic in the Near and Middle East. The previous record of 162 people died only on Monday.

The new deaths announced on state television by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Sima Sadat Lari, bring to 11,571 dead the official assessment of the pandemic in Iran.

"In the past 24 hours, 2,560 people have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections to 240,438," said Sima Sadat Lari.

These announcements come as Iran has been facing an increase in new confirmed cases and deaths for several weeks.

The authorities have repeatedly warned the population against what they consider to be a neglect with regard to compliance with health procedures and the precautions to be taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Obligation to wear the mask

On Saturday, President Hassan Rohani announced that the authorities intended to firmly enforce from Sunday the obligation to wear the mask in certain public places.

To fight against the spread of the epidemic, the Iranian authorities never imposed containment of the population but decreed a series of restrictions (prohibition of the gatherings, in particular religious, limitation of the economic activity and displacements among others) .

In order not to further aggravate the economic crisis - the result of the reimposition of American sanctions against the Islamic Republic in 2018 - that the country is enduring, the government gradually lifted these restrictions from April, when the epidemic seemed to be receding . But according to official figures, the disease has been gaining ground since the beginning of May.

According to Sima Sadat Lari, nine of the country's 31 provinces (Western and Eastern Azerbaijan, Bouchehr, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kermanshah Khorassan-é-Razavi, Khouzestan and Kurdistan) remain as the previous day classified in "red", the highest level on the scale of the risk of spreading the virus.

With AFP

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