Two-week restrictions imposed in Iranian capital to curb new COVID surge

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 07 April 2021 4:38 PM

The Iranian capital has been put under a partial lockdown that would last for two weeks amid a fresh surge in cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tehran's Governor Anoushirvan Mohseni said on Wednesday that businesses, schools and gathering places would close down after a red alert was issued for the capital city that indicates a rising wave in number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Mohseni said a handful of businesses and government departments whose services are deemed necessary for daily life of more than eight million inhabitants of the city would remain open during the two-week partial lockdown.

"Tehran is seeing a growing spread of this disease and there has been a rising trend in referrals to outpatient services as well as in hospitalizations and deaths," he said.

The governor said closures would affect theaters, cinemas, sport centers and even gatherings held prior to the start of the holy month of Ramadan which falls on April 14.

Mohseni said, however, that a total lockdown for Tehran was avoided because the capital city accommodates major national and international activities.

The announcement comes amid a new wave across Iran of infections to the so-called British variant of COVID-19 which authorities blame on easing of restrictions on gatherings and travel during two weeks of Persian New Year holidays starting March 21.

The daily number of deaths from the disease reported by the health ministry rose by 193 on Wednesday. The figure, a record in months, brought total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Iran since February 2020 to 63,699.

The number of confirmed cases also rose by 20,954 on Wednesday afternoon to a total of over 1.98 million, according to tables published by the official IRNA news agency.