March 26, 2021
The regime banned travel to and from 40 cities around the country over the Now Ruz holidays not including Tehran in an effort to prevent yet another surge in coronavirus cases.
The number of new cases reported daily climbed in February to around 8,000 but dropped slightly just before Now Ruz. The number of new deaths has been steady at a little under 100 ever since the first week of January, with no sign of rising.
But the government has seen less respect for the rules to curb the coronavirus in recent weeks and fears the usual social engagements of the Now Ruz holidays will be a super-spreader event without precedent.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki implored people in the name of a Shiite saint, no less to avoid holiday travel. “We beg you not to travel,” he said. “The health minister must beg, must plead, must kiss hands and feet to get anywhere.”
The travel ban applies to the cities characterized as “red” where the disease is out of control and “orange” which are slightly less risky. There are nine “red” cities, all in Khuzestan province, and 31 “orange” cities, scattered all over the country. Police are to block cars from entering and leaving those cities during the two-week holiday. Traffic can move freely in and out of the 400 other cities, including Tehran, which are categorized as blue or yellow.
But one week into the New Year, Tehran was changed to orange status and vehciles were blocked from entring or leaaving the city.
The government has also banned foreign travelers from 32 countries from entering Iran. The list is rather odd. It does not include the United States or Canada or any European country except Britain. Apart from the UK, all the banned countries are in Africa (17) and Latin America (14).
Khuzestan is currently the greatest hotspot for the disease, with a very high death rate to boot. Dr. Farhad Abolnejadian, chancellor of the Ahvaz Jondi-shapur University of Medical Sciences, says a major factor in the high death rate is that patients are being brought to hospitals only after they are very ill. A review of fatalities in February showed one-third of the dead died within 24 hours of being admitted.
The National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control said a major problem has been air passengers arriving in Iran with faked certificates saying they had tested negative before boarding the aircraft. It said Iraqis were a major source of the faked certificates.
The total number of covid cases in Iran has now passed 1.8 million or about 2 percent of the total population. The death toll recently passed 62,000 or about 3.5 percent of all those who became ill.
In terms of the death rate per million people, Iran ranks 47th in the world with 733 deaths per million. But within Asia, Iran ranks second only to Lebanon, which is 41st in the world with 877 deaths per million.