The death toll due to coronavirus or COVID-19 in Iran in the last 24 hours crossed 100 for the eighth straight day, taking the total of the deadly novel virus cases to 10,239, as per the figures of the health ministry issued on Friday.
With the 2,628 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours taking the total number of people infected stood at 217,724 of whom 177,852 have recovered, the ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state television.
COVID-19 in Iran
The sharp increase in new daily infections and deaths in the past week follows the gradual lifting of restrictions that began in mid-April. Lari said 109 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 10,239. Senior officials warn regularly that restrictions will be reimposed if health regulations to stem the surge in infections are not observed.
State TV on Friday aired interviews with several patients in hospitals who said they contracted the virus after attending wedding parties, wakes and other gatherings. In one case, the TV said, all the 35 people attending a wake in the Western Lorestan Province caught the virus; three of them are in intensive care. Alireza Zali, head of the government-led Coronavirus Taskforce of Tehran, said it was estimated that up to 20 percent of the capital's residents may have been infected by the coronavirus.
The capital city has a population of around 9 million. President Hassan Rouhani said on June 20 that the government was considering making wearing masks mandatory in public places and covered spaces given the surge in the number of confirmed infections.
(With agency inputs)
