DUBAI, March 5 (Reuters) – Iran‘s death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 107, Health Ministry spokesman told state TV, adding that the number of people infected had reached 3,513.
Iran has had the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus outside of China, where the outbreak originated, and several countries in the region have reported infections among people who travelled to the Islamic Republic.
Some neighbouring countries have closed their borders with several countries stopping flights.
Iran will put together approximately 300,000 teams, to perform door-to-door coronavirus screening, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said on state TV on Sunday.
[aesop_image img=”https://kayhanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020-02-29T151119Z_24241448_RC2FAF9YR9LW_RTRMADP_3_CHINA-HEALTH-IRAN-TOLL.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”REUTERS./” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”A member of the medical team sprays disinfectant to sanitize the door of Imam Reza’s holy shrine, following the coronavirus outbreak, in Mashhad, Iran February 27, 2020. ” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
Dependants and some staff are being evacuated from the British embassy in Tehran as of March 1 due to coronavirus but essential staff will remain, Britain’s Foreign Office said on Sunday as part of a travel advisory for Iran posted online.
“As of 1 March, dependants and some staff from the British Embassy are being withdrawn from Iran due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Essential staff needed to continue critical work will remain,” the advisory said.
“In the event that the situation deteriorates further, the ability of the British Embassy to provide assistance to British nationals from within Iran may be limited.”
Iran‘s elite Revolutionary Guards have allocated facilities across the country to help to eradicate the virus, a Guards commander told a televised news conference on Sunday.
“We have set up centres across the country to help people to tackle the virus … we need national cooperation to tackle this crisis. People should follow our health officials’ advice,” said the commander, who was not named by Iran‘s Press TV.
The spread of the virus in Iran, the epicentre of the outbreak in the Middle East, has prompted growing anxiety among Iranians and concern in some quarters over the clerical establishment’s response.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by David Goodman and Ros Russell)
