Travelers Clog the Roads Ahead of New Lockdowns

A new set of planned “extensive lockdowns” is due to come into effect on Saturday, November 21, on the orders of the National Coronavirus Taskforce. In addition, out-of-province vehicles are to be banned from entering or leaving 25 provinces in a “red” state of alert. Iran’s highway police announced that a ban on traveling to and from provincial capitals would take effect on the morning of Wednesday, November 18.

Perhaps spurred by this, there were numerous reports that on the Tuesday afternoon, a large number of motorists departed for out-of-town destinations, especially for the scenic northern provinces. For some more comfortably-off workers, the anticipated two-week lockdown will largely be spent as a holiday. Officials reiterated that travel restrictions would start on Wednesday, adding that violators would be fined up to 500 thousand tomans ($122). But each of the 25 affected provinces appear to be implementing the ban in a different way.

In Markazi province, the local highway police announced that due to “certain considerations” the ban would not be implemented until Saturday. Police in Mazandaran and Tehran provinces declared the same. Officials in Zanjan and Qazvin, however, have stuck to the national directive and insisted that the ban on inter-province travel will be in place from Wednesday.

During the midweek rush, some health officials tried to dissuade people from out-of-town travel. Dr. Masoud Mardani, an infectious diseases specialist and a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, sarcastically called the surge in traffic “a saga”, adding: “We are not big enough to give people advice. But last night those who never give up traveling to the north at any price launched yet another saga… It was a miracle. We never imagined that people had planned their travels so well before the restrictions came into effect.”

Adopting a more serious tone, he went on to advise travelers not to leave their usual place of residence unless absolutely necessary, also reminding them not to forget to wash their hands repeatedly, not to go to restaurants to dine, and to stay away from shops. Saturday’s restrictions will see all non-essential businesses and services in 160 cities shut down.

 

Private Sector Employees in Limbo

According to the new “extensive lockdowns”, 50 percent of government employees in all cities currently in an “orange” state of alert work remotely. In red cities, two thirds of government employees will work from home. Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, the governor of Tehran province, has warned that even during this period, essential services must not be disrupted.

The private sector, however, has no clear guidelines in place. Fatemeh, an employee of a private firm in Tehran, tells IranWire that even though no clients will be coming into the office, she has been instructed to physically come into work every day.

“We work in the same way as we did before. I have to be at work at 8 in the morning and stay there until 5 in the afternoon,” she says. “I have to use public transport, and the situation with the buses is not great, especially in late afternoon when I want to return home. I have to wait at the bus stop until one arrives that I can get into while observing social distancing. It takes at least an hour.”

Fatemeh says she is fed up with the “weird” decisions taken by the National Coronavirus Taskforce. “Apparently, managers of private companies have been told they can stay open even if no clients are coming in. On the other hand, they say that offices that must receive clients must stay open. This is ridiculous. Either lock us down or let us decide for ourselves. This is not the way to run things. And this is the way that they want to defeat coronavirus!”

 

Rouhani: We Have All the Equipment We Need

President Hassan Rouhani has said that the new lockdowns are intended to put people “on guard” and give medical personnel a chance to recover. “We have no problems in terms of equipment, beds, ICUs and ventilators,” he claimed, but “our medical staff are under pressure because they have been working nonstop for nine months and they are exhausted.”

Rouhani added that one-third of Iranians would receive cash subsidies for the next four months. “We shall approve this measure at a meeting of the Coronavirus Taskforce,” he said. “Those who qualify will receive a grant of 100 thousand tomans [$25] per individual [for the next four months]. We will give around 10 million households a loan of one million tomans [$250]. For treating coronavirus, we will cover those who are not covered by insurance, and medication for this disease will be covered by insurance as well.”

 

Doctors Fear a Four-Digit Daily Fatality Rate Looms

With the official number of Covid-19 fatalities drawing close to 500 per day, experts and health officials including health minister Saeed Namaki have expressed fears that very soon, Iran’s official daily fatality rate could reach 1,000. The latest statistics released by the health ministry state that 5,712 Covid-19 patients are being treated on ICU wards. Senior officials have already said that 50 percent of these patients are likely to die, suggesting that the chance of a drop in fatalities in the near future is very slim.

Hossein Kermanpour, a doctor in an emergency room, also believes that the daily Covid-19 death rate could breach 1,000 in the next two months. “At the moment the number of Covid-19 patients coming into the hospital is very high, but the number of beds we have is limited,” he says. “When the number of patients is so high that there are not enough beds, at least some of them have to wait in line and suffer the consequences.”

 

Provinces Round-up

On November 18, Dr. Mohammad Reza Ghadir, president of Qom University of Medical Sciences, reported that the average number of coronavirus hospitalizations in Qom in the past week has been between 530 and 550, with the number of fatalities ranging from eight to 10 per day. “Currently,” he added, “125 patients are in ICU wards.”

Every city in the province of Kermanshah in a “red” state of alert, reported Mehdi Mohammadi, spokesman for Coronavirus Taskforce at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. “In the past 24 hours another 13 Covid-19 patients died and the total death toll in the province rose to 1,129,” he said. The local taskforce is still mulling over the idea of setting up field hospitals in Kermanshah. In recent weeks the military has announced several times that it is ready and waiting to do so.

In the past 24 hours in Alborz province another 12 patients lost their lives to coronavirus, bringing the total death toll in the province to 2,081. According to the latest figures released by Alborz University of Medical Sciences, in the past 24 hours 104 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were hospitalized in the province. Currently 891 confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus are hospitalized in Alborz treatment centers.

 

Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics

In her daily briefing for November 18, health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:

Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.

This article is part of IranWire’s coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology here.