Iran: Number of red cities jump to 33

The Mask application which ranks cities in terms of risk from the Coronavirus shows that 95 cities are orange, 220 yellow and 100 blue, with the latter showing the situation is back to normal Coronavirus-wise in an area. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry announced on Friday, 132 people died in Iran from Covid in the past 24 hours. The total death toll since the start of the pandemic now stands at 127,053.

From Thursday, 8,633 new infections including 1,163 hospitalizations were logged. The deaths, infections and hospitalizations however show a downward trend compared with two months ago when Iran was in the grip of Covid’s 5th wave.

The speedy vaccination campaign in Iran is credited for the decreasing number of Covid deaths cases. However, the latest rise in the number of cities marked red has run the alarm for both people and authorities in Iran. Officials have time and again warned in recent days that relaxing Covid-related health protocols on the part of citizens could lead to a 6th wave of the outbreak.

They also say restrictions like nighttime driving ban will remain in place to minimize chances of a resurgence of the virus.