June 25 (Reuters) – Iran‘s death toll from the new coronavirus has passed 10,000, according to official figures from the ministry of health.
The daily death toll has regularly topped 100 in the past week for the first time in two months, mirroring a sharp rise in new infections since restrictions on movement began to be lifted in mid-April.
Iran recorded 134 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its total so far to 10,130. The total number of cases in the country has reached 215,096, of whom 175,103 people have recovered.
Senior officials have regularly warned that restrictions will be reimposed if health regulations such as social distancing to stem the surge in infections are not observed.
State TV on Thursday aired interviews with several people on public transport and in the streets of Tehran who were not wearing masks or gloves. A handful of people not wearing masks said that they thought the threat of infection was exaggerated and that they would not get sick.
On Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani said the government was considering making it mandatory within days to wear masks in public places and covered spaces given the surge in the number of confirmed infections.
The pandemic has hit Iran harder than any other country in the Middle East.
(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
