The National Coronavirus Taskforce on Saturday issued a night curfew on nonessential businesses in areas hit hardest by the coronavirus, as Iran reported its largest single-day spike in daily Covid-19 cases.
All provincial capitals, including Tehran, and densely-populated cities will be subject to a curfew from 6 p.m. until the next day starting Nov. 10, President.ir reported.
The month-long restrictive measure was announced by President Hassan Rouhani during Saturday’s National Coronavirus Taskforce meeting, as Iran logged a record high of 9,450 new infections within 24 hours.
Alireza Raeisi, the taskforce’s spokesman, said, “Only essential businesses can continue activities after 6 p.m. The rest will close until the next day.”
Essential places of business, according to Raeisi, include health centers, pharmacies, search and rescue centers, fire stations, grocery stores and chain stores.
“I am certain that this initiative, with the help of people, can be extremely effective in breaking the chain of transmission,” he said.
The government is currently enforcing lockdown disciplines in 25 provincial capitals and 89 high-risk counties in a bid to halt the spread of the deadly virus.
All previous restrictions will expire by Friday, if not renewed.
“Iran’s record high coronavirus cases took the national count to 673,000,” the spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, was quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Almost one-third of the 9,450 new cases required hospitalization. Over the past 24 hours, 423 Covid-19 patients lost their lives, bringing the death toll to 37,832.”