As Iran marked the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a day later than much of the Muslim world, another 76 fatalities were declared, raising Iran’s official death toll to 6,650.
Iran has in phases since April 11 allowed the reopening of a number of businesses that were closed as part of measures to curb COVID-19.
The spread of the disease has slowed since the start of April, but Alireza Zali, the anti-Coronavirus coordinator for the capital, on Saturday criticised “hasty reopenings”.
They could “create new waves of sickness in Tehran and complicate efforts to bring the epidemic under control”, he said.
Furthermore, Iranian health officials Saturday raised fears of a “fresh outbreak” of Coronavirus cases in their country, which has paid the deadliest price in the Middle East from the pandemic.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said Iran has now recorded 89,328 cases of COVID-19, including 1,134 over the past 24 hours, since its first case in February.
The number of Iranian casualties is widely thought to be much higher, however.
