A woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, on Aug 2, 2020. (Xinhua Ahmad Halabisaz)
The #COVID19 epidemic will last at least six more months in Iran until a valid vaccine arrives, warns Iranian president.
TEHRAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Sunday that the coronavirus epidemic will last at least six more months in Iran until a valid vaccine is within public reach, official IRNA news agency reported.
"Until we obtain a vaccine that is effective and get a sufficient quantity of it ... we will be confronting this situation," Rouhani said.
A sculpture wearing a face mask is seen on a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, on Aug 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
However, it is not feasible to "completely cancel economic, social, cultural, and religious activity," nor to act as prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
The Iranian president asked the public to respect hygiene and social distancing procedures, saying punitive measures will be announced next week against those who transgress norms and get infected with COVID-19.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iran reached 326,712 on Sunday, with an increase of 2,020 in the past 24 hours, according to the latest official figure.
A seller is seen at a livestock market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival in Tehran, Iran, on July 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily briefing that out of the overnight new cases were 961 in hospital.
Meanwhile, 163 COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 18,427, she added.
A total of 284,371 people have recovered from the virus, while 4,022 remain in critical condition, Lari noted.
As of Sunday, 2,686,498 lab tests for COVID-19 have been carried out in Iran.
A girl wearing a face mask walks with her mother in a street of Marivan city, western Iran, July 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
A total of 15 Iranian provinces are currently at high risk, while 11 others on alert, the spokeswoman said.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19. ■
