Iran faces Covid-19 fourth wave after Persian new year
Warnings of a Covid-19 fourth wave have been given, as cases in Iran have dramatically risen after Nowruz.
Warnings of a Covid-19 fourth wave have been given, as Covid-19 cases in Iran have dramatically risen after Nowruz.
CAPE TOWN, April 4 (ANA) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has warned of a Covid-19 fourth wave, as cases in the Middle Eastern country rise dramatically after the Persian new year, Nowruz.
Covid-19 infections spiked after millions of people travelled during the Persian New Year holidays on March 20.
The Iranian new year is known as Nowruz, which means “new day” in English. This secular festival, which takes place at the spring equinox’s exact moment, has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.
Nowruz is accompanied by long holidays during which Iranians fly to scenic provinces near the Caspian Sea in the north to see family and friends.
After weeks of low warning levels across Iran, Rouhani said some cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan were now “red”, the highest colour on Iran’s colour-coded danger level.
According to Al Jazeera, on a colour-coded scale indicating the intensity of outbreaks, Iranian citizens were officially authorised to visit hundreds of cities across the country that were not labelled as “red” or “orange.”
The Iranian government’s calls for citizens to remain at home at the start of the new year were largely ignored, with police estimating that more than 1.2 million people took to the roads, according to The Guardian.
Public transit was not forbidden, and fines for commuting to prohibited cities in private cars were not severe. Some travellers consider them part of their travel expenses.
“This is a warning for all of us,” Rouhani said in televised remarks, according to Arab News.
Out of more than 1.9 million coronavirus cases, the country’s population of more than 80 million people has been 63,000 fatalities.
Since late December, Iran has officially reported less than 7,000 daily infections, but the number has surpassed this mark since early February 2021.
The country’s health ministry reported that two of Iran’s 32 provinces – Alborz, near the capital Tehran, and Ilam, in the west – are experiencing the fourth wave, according to Al Jazeera.
“This means the beginning of moving toward the fourth wave. We all have to be vigilant to prevent this,” Rouhani said.
According to Iran’s health ministry, of the at least 15,000 people who travelled during Nowruz tested positive for Covid-19 at registered labs.
African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
