Iran reports over 100 new virus deaths for third day in a row

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian health authorities report over 100 new deaths from the novel coronavirus for the third day running, stressing the outbreak hasn’t yet peaked in the hard-hit country.

Iran reported its first coronavirus cases on February 19 and has since struggled to contain the outbreak, the deadliest in the Middle East.

The Islamic Republic recorded its lowest single-day death toll in early May, before seeing a new rise in cases in recent weeks.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari says the 116 deaths reported today brought the country’s overall COVID-19 toll to 9,623.

Health Minister Said Namaki, however, denied the country is facing a second wave of the respiratory illness and says “the peak of the disease has not passed.”

“Even in provinces where we think the first coronavirus wave is behind us, we have not yet fully experienced the first wave,” he is quoted as saying by semi-official news agency ISNA.

Iranian authorities have not imposed a mandatory lockdown on the population but closed schools, cancelled public events and banned movement between the country’s 31 provinces in March, before gradually easing restrictions starting in April.

According to Lari, four provinces — Khuzestan, Hormozgan, Kermanshah and East Azerbaijan — were currently “red,” the highest level on the country’s color-coded risk scale.

She adds that 2,368 new infections had been confirmed, bringing to 204,952 the total number of cases in the country.

There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran’s official figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher.

— AFP