The Covid-19 is going up again in Iran. New confirmed cases of infection have reached a record high, with 3,574 people infected within 24 hours, Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianouche Jahanpour said Thursday.

The indicator for new contaminations, which has been going up for a month, has seen them accelerate in the past few days, up to exceeding the peak of 3,186 new cases reported reached on March 30.

With 59 new deaths between Wednesday and Thursday, the number of deaths caused each day by the Covid-19 remains relatively low, according to figures released by Kianouche Jahanpour.

If the official number of daily deaths has been hovering below 100 for the past few weeks, the number of new cases announced by the authorities began an upward trend since May 2.

The increase in the cases identified could be linked to the multiplication of tests, of which more than a million were carried out according to the Iranian official, while the screening becomes more systematic over time.

The responsibilities thrown on the population

President Hassan Rohani does not miss an opportunity to recall how well his government has managed, in his opinion, the health crisis - despite a situation made particularly difficult by American sanctions - in comparison with European countries or the United States, a sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic and the country most affected by the virus.

But his Minister of Health, Saïd Namaki, a doctor by profession, had a much less victorious speech. Cited Tuesday by the news agency Isna, the Iranian official worried "that people have become completely reckless" in the face of the disease. "They either have total confidence in us, or they think the coronavirus is gone. And that last statement is completely false," he added.

His deputy, Iraj Harirchi, asks to reduce "unnecessary trips and trips", "strongly" recommends wearing a mask and regrets that the population is, according to him, much less convinced than before of the need to follow the instructions sanitary and stay at home.

Meanwhile, on Iranian television, a banner turns in a loop reminding the health instructions to be respected to reduce the virus: "Failure to respect social distancing, rules of personal or public hygiene as well as unnecessary travel can have irreparable consequences. "  

Paradoxically, the same channel broadcasts several times a day with dramatic music an animated infographic instilling the message that, faced with the epidemic, Iran is doing much better than many other countries.

Ten provinces on health alert

In total, the epidemic of viral pneumonia has killed 8,071 people in Iran out of a total of 164,270 people infected, according to official figures. These are considered largely underestimated abroad, as well as by some Iranian officials.

The country began gradually easing restrictions and measures to curb the spread of the epidemic in April, to the point where life has resumed an almost normal course in most of the country's 31 provinces.

But Khouzestan, in the south-west of the country, returned to the "red zone" at the beginning of May, and nine other provinces remain placed on a "health alert".

With AFP

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