The Coronavirus outbreak has spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces since it first emerged last month in Qom, which is among the worst-hit regions along with Tehran and Khorasan Razavi, where Mashhad is located.
Health Minister Saeid Namaki said the shrines and “other holy sites” had agreed to close until after the New Year holidays, which start on Friday.
The move came after Iran said the COVID-19 disease killed another 129 people, taking the country’s overall toll to 853 dead out of 14,991 cases of infection.
“Our plea is that everyone take this virus seriously and in no way attempt to travel to any province,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
The disease has now killed at least 12 Iranian politicians and officials, both sitting and former, and infected 13 more who have either been quarantined or are being treated.
Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 since the authorities announced the first two deaths in Qom on February 19.
It has since shut schools, postponed cultural and sports events and discouraged travel ahead of the New Year holidays. It has also cancelled the main weekly Friday prayers, closed parliament and put off the second round of legislative elections.
But Iran has yet to impose a lock-down, and the official number of deaths and infections has continued to grow exponentially.
The health ministry’s latest figures showed that Tehran province had the highest number of new infections with 200 cases.
The central province of Isfahan followed with 118 cases, with Mazandaran in the north of Iran coming next with 96.
