Iran health ministry concerned about Covid, flu outbreaks

Iran’s Health Ministry says officials are concerned about parallel outbreak of influenza as the country is fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

“Cases of the flu are increasing in the country and so far, more than 200 such cases have been confirmed by laboratory testing,” The ministry’s director for contagious diseases said.

“Of course, we are yet to reach the alarm threshold on the number of influenza cases, but it seems that the threshold will be crossed soon. Preventive measures for the flu are exactly the same as those against Covid-19,” Mohammad Mahdi Gouya said.

“We are concerned about these two diseases, i.e. the flu and Covid-19, to take place together. It is proven that if someone contracts these two illnesses at the same time, the condition will become acuter and deadlier,” he warned.

He said the ministry’s advice is for the people is to make sure they frequently wash their hands, maintain social distancing and use mask, among other measures previously prescribed for the coronavirus disease, to keep themselves safe against the flu.

Iran logged 4813 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, including over 700 patients, who were hospitalized.

During the 24-hour period, 95 people lost their lives to the virus, raising the total fatalities since the pandemic began to 129,280 people.

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