President Rouhani: Coronavirus Cases on Decline across Iran

Addressing a Wednesday session of the cabinet, President Rouhani said all provinces of Iran, without exception, have witnessed a downward trend in the coronavirus infection cases.

He noted that the promising statistics suggest that the Iranian medical society, experts and people have been on the right track.

The president also expressed gratitude to Iranian citizens for observing the health protocols and staying home which resulted in the decline of COVID-19 infections across the country.

President Rouhani then pointed to an 80% decrease in the Nowruz travels during the first days of spring compared to the past years, saying the disease peak has been over in the majority of the provinces during the very first days of the new year.

The president further explained that a scheme launched by China to keep people in quarantine, known as the Chinese quarantine model, could not be implemented in any other country, including in Iran.

The model carried out in China’s Wuhan entailed the closure of all shops, places and factories, halting the movement of all vehicles, and banning all people from going out of the houses, Rouhani noted, adding that neither Iran nor any other country could implement that model.

The president further pointed to the administration’s new decisions to control the coronavirus pandemic, saying whoever contracts COVID-19 must inform the family, the work place and the officials, warning that violators will have to face prosecution.

President Rouhani then stated that around 13,000 hospital beds in Iran are still unoccupied, noting that only 4,000 out of a total of 6,800 ICU beds in the country are currently occupied.

Highlighting the country’s domestic capabilities in the war on coronavirus, the president said the homegrown medical ventilators are being manufactured adequately and delivered to hospitals, stressing that the medical centers and laboratories across the country are receiving sufficient shipments of hospital gowns, personal protective equipment, and coronavirus diagnostic test kits.