Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says social distancing will continue for two or three weeks as the coronavirus outbreak in the country is expected to slow down by then.
Social distancing measures to stop the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country will be needed for two or three weeks as the outbreak is expected to ease by then, Rouhani said on Saturday.
The measures include travel restrictions and school closures.
The president urged people to stay indoors and restrict their social interactions as much as they can to help slow the spread of the contagious virus.
He made the comments in an address to a meeting of the country’s national headquarters tasked with containing the outbreak of the coronavirus, COVID-19.
Rouhani said “anti-revolutionary elements” have orchestrated plots to shut down Iran’s economic production, noting that every necessary measure needs to be taken in order to “return economic production to normal”.
COVID-19 slows down across Iran
Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi on Saturday put the total number of infected individuals across the country at 20,610.
“With 123 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 1,556. Unfortunately, we had 966 new cases since yesterday,” he said on state TV.
Raisi also said that so far 7,635 patients have been recovered from the infection.
He said the outbreak is showing signs of slowing down in almost all provinces, including hardest-hit provinces like Tehran and Mazandaran.