The number of severely ill Covid-19 patients in intensive care units hit an all-time high in Iran on Monday, with 3,819 occupied beds, health officials said.
“Over 3,800 ICU patients are in serious conditions,” Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying by ISNA in a daily readout as the coronavirus crisis continued to escalate across the country.
Iran recorded 2,434 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing its national tally to 293,606, the 10th largest in the world. Overnight deaths dropped to 212, down by 4 from a day earlier, which took the country’s total fatalities to 15,912.
Pointing to the soaring Covid-19 figures, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said public complacency in late May and June has triggered a second wave of infections that is now afflicting Iran.
The deputy minister noted that no vaccine has been developed for malaria or AIDS, two-decade-old infectious diseases and said, “There is no shortcut to eliminate Covid-19, the only promising option is a vaccine, which might be made available at least a year from now.”
According to Harirchi, Iran’s only viable option for now is to bring about “social and behavioral change” among the public.
Tehran will decide whether to extend lockdown disciplines by the weekend, depending on the number of provincewide hospitalizations and deaths.
Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei was hospitalized on Monday, a few days after he began to show symptoms.
Mayor of Mashhad, capital of the eastern Khorasan Razavi Province, also caught the virus. The region is the worst-off among the 25 provinces grappling with alarming or emergency situation, an official with the Health Ministry said.