Tehran parks closed for two weeks to stem Covid surge

The major parks in the Iranian capital have been placed under a two-week lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection.

The Coronavirus Taskforce Committee said in a statement on Thursday it was forced to issue the decree after the uptick in Covid-hit cases in the capital.

The committee said the decision does not apply to small local parks, but called on the citizens to comply with health and social distancing protocols in all public places.

Iran has been experiencing a new wave of the disease after several weeks of near-zero deaths, with the highly contagious sub-strains of the Omicron variant, BA.5, the dominant factor in majority of the new cases.

On Wednesday, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi called on the people to face masks in public places and get booster shots immediately as the BA.5 spreads 18 times faster than other variants.

Iran’s total Covid death toll stands at nearly 142,000, according to the latest tally by the health ministry.

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