Iranian wedding party fuelled new COVID-19 surge, President Rouhani says

A wedding party contributed to a new surge in (COVID-19) coronavirus infections in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday but insisted the country had no option but to keep its economy open despite warnings of a second wave of the epidemic.

Iran, which has been gradually relaxing its lockdown since mid-April, has reported a sharp rise of new daily infections in recent days. Thursday’s toll of 3,574 new cases was the highest since February when the outbreak was first reported.

“At one location, we witnessed a peak in this epidemic, the source of which was a wedding that caused problems for the people, health workers and losses to the economy and the country’s health system,” Rouhani said on state TV. He did not say when or where the wedding took place.

New cases dipped to 2,886 on Friday, bringing Iran’s total cases to more than 167,000, with over 8,000 deaths.

Health officials have been warning of a second wave of the outbreak, but say a reason for the surge in new cases could be wider testing. One official said about 70 per cent of the new cases in Tehran were among those who had travelled outside the capital in recent days.

Iran has been struggling to curb the spread of COVID-19 but authorities are concerned that measures to limit public and economic life to contain the virus could wreck an already economy already reeling under international sanctions.

“In these circumstances, we have no other choice – that is, there is no second option,” Rouhani added. “We have to work, our factories have to be active, our shops have to be open, and there has to be movement in the country as far as it is necessary.”

Iranian universities reopened on Saturday after being closed for more than three and a half months, state media reported. Nurseries will reopen in a week’s time, when Koran and languages classes will also resume, Rouhani said.

(Reuters)

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING

BREAKING: No Fresh Probe Of Adesina ―AfDB Board Rules
The Bureau of the Board of Governors of African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday foreclosed the possibility of reopening the probe of the bank’s President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina. At a meeting, the body declared that an independent investigation was not required as demanded the United States of America… Read full story

NCDC Releases New Guidelines On COVID-19 Patients’ Treatment, Discharge
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday announced a new case management guidelines for the treatment and discharge of COVID-19 pandemic patients. Its Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF) media briefing in Abuja… Read full story

UN Puts Nigeria’s Electricity Access Rate At 57%
No fewer than 110.7 million Nigerians out of a 195.8 million estimated population had access to electricity as of 2018, according to the latest global energy progress report. This represents a 57 per cent national electricity access rate compared with the global average of 90 per cent, says the report launched at the… Read full story

Akinwumi Adesina And AfDB
AFTER the Ethics Committee of the African Development Bank (AfDB) had returned a ‘not guilty’ verdict on the bank’s president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who had been accused by a group of whistleblowers of approving certain appointments and contracts that were in breach of the financial institution’s statutory and… Read full story

COVID-19: Nigeria Records 350 New Cases, Total Now 11,516
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 350 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,516. The centre disclosed this on Tuesday night via its… Read full story