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Special Features

Tehran in Lockdown as Official Covid-19 Deaths Exceed 27,000

October 6, 2020
Pouyan Khoshhal
5 min read
“Death from coronavirus does not just happen to your neighbor. It is sitting outside your front door," said a committee member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce
“Death from coronavirus does not just happen to your neighbor. It is sitting outside your front door," said a committee member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce
In Tehran, mosques, sports facilities and entertainment centers were ordered to close from October 3 to October 9
In Tehran, mosques, sports facilities and entertainment centers were ordered to close from October 3 to October 9

“Death from coronavirus does not just happen to your neighbor. It is sitting outside your front door,” wrote Masoud Mardani, a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, in an article published in Etemad newspaper. “This is the important lesson that Covid-19 has taught us.” Mardani’s comments come at a time when the situation across Iran is increasingly becoming more critical and as officials plead with people to observe health protocols. 

Tehran province has been locked down for a week, though some experts have said the lockdown does not go far enough and will fail to make much difference in the spread of coronavirus. The Tehran provincial government ordered mosques, sports facilities and entertainment centers to close between October 3 and October 9, but many people point out that such closures had been ordered before and did not prevent the contagion from getting worse.

This year Arba’een, the 40th day of the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, falls on October 8. Traditionally, Shias mark the occasion with mourning ceremonies and processions and many travel to his shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala. But this year the border with Iraq is closed and Iranian officials have asked would-be pilgrims not to travel. Even within Iran, religious ceremonies in the holy cities of Mashhad and Qom have been banned. However, over the seven months since the coronavirus outbreak began, some religious zealots have shown that they have no compunction about breaking rules when it comes to bans imposed in an effort to contain the epidemic.

Aware of this, on October 5, the Guardian of Shah Abdol Azim Shrine in Rey near Tehran announced: “although the National Coronavirus Taskforce has proclaimed that this year no Arba’een processions will take place in Iran, officials at this shrine and related government agencies in the city of Rey must be prepared for the arrival of pilgrims, who will spontaneously want to visit this heavenly shrine.”

Majid Baba-Khani, director-general of the Islamic Development Organization’s Religious Assemblies Department, harshly criticized the National Coronavirus Taskforce for being vague in its decisions about social events and, in particular, regarding religious ceremonies. The taskforce, he said, had not set out clear plans for university entrance exams, the reopening of schools and universities or the recent lockdowns, and said this had "cost the people.” Likewise, he claimed, the taskforce’s approach toward Arba’een had been vague and opaque.

Following ceremonies to mark the martyrdom of Imam Hossein in late August, some cities, including Khomeini Shahr in Isfahan province, witnessed a sharp rise in coronavirus infections. “Isfahan was doing a good job of managing [the epidemic] but places like Khomeini Shahr inflicted big damage to this province,” said Alireza Raeesi, a deputy health minister, on September 26. “According to the reports that we have received, the rate of infections is very high due to the ceremonies being held without people observing health protocols.”

It is predicted that ceremonies for Arba’een on October 8 will also contribute to the spread of coronavirus.

The one-week partial lockdown of Tehran has led many to worry that Tehran residents might once again set out for the scenic northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan.

“We have repeatedly emphasized that traveling has a direct impact on the spread of coronavirus but people are not willing to listen and continue to travel whenever they have days off,” said Mojgan Jalilian, a public relations official with the Ministry of Roads. She emphasized that the ministry had received no guidelines from the National Coronavirus Taskforce, but that if any were presented to her agency, it would do its best to enforce traffic restrictions.

 

Provinces Round-up

New restrictions were imposed in various provinces at the beginning of October, measures that are increasingly becoming stricter and being adopted by more cities.

Parks in the city of Karaj near Tehran were closed to the public, reported Peyman Baza’atipour, an official from Karaj municipality. “Red tape has been wound around Karaj parks, but preventing the spread of coronavirus should not be limited to places under the control of the municipality,” he said. “However, all high-risk businesses, restaurants, cafés and the like remain open.”

Fifteen Covid-19 patients died in Kermanshah in the 24-hour period spanning October 4 and October 5, breaking the daily record for the province, reported Mehdi Mohammadi, a Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences official. But when he emphasized the deaths of “confirmed” cases, he left room for speculation that the actual number of fatalities could be higher.

The situation is similar in Tehran. On Sunday, October 4, Nahid Khoda-Karami, a member of Tehran City Council’s Health Committee, reported that 136 people had died in Tehran from Covid-19 in the preceding 24 hours, while the health ministry had announced that the total number of coronavirus fatalities across the country on that day was 179. A few hours later Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province, explained that although 136 people had died, only 68 of them were confirmed cases.

Of the 164 veterinarians who work for North Khorasan’s Veterinary Medicine Bureau 37 have been infected with coronavirus, reported Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi, director-general of the bureau.

In Kerman, inspection teams have been deployed on 11 roads entering the province to control the number of travelers entering. The provincial government announced a ban on Arba’een processions in the province. “We hope that people take precautions themselves so we will have no need to impose special restrictions.”

Twenty-one players and staff for Tehran province’s Varamin Municipality Volleyball Team have been infected with coronavirus and, as a result, will have to isolate and not practice with or be in the company of the team for the next two weeks, the team’s manager Jamal Ardestani reported. 

In her daily briefing for October 5, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:

 

Dr. Lari also reported that out of the 31 Iranian provinces, currently 30 provinces are in a high state of alert:

 

This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology

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