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HEALTH-VIRUS-IRAN-TOLL,LEAD
Iran’s coronavirus death toll rises to 1,433
TEHRAN, March 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Iran said Friday that coronavirus has
killed 149 more people in the Islamic republic, raising the country’s
official death toll from the disease to 1,433.
Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said 1,237 more cases have been
confirmed over the past 24 hours and 19,644 people are now known to have been
infected in Iran, one of the world’s worst-hit countries.
The latest figures come as Iranians celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year
which ushers in a two-week holiday during which Iran’s roads are normally
filled with people visiting family.
The authorities had urged the public to avoid family visits or days out
this year to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
But footage aired by state television showed hundreds of vehicles pouring
out of Tehran on Thursday evening.
Remote sensors installed at tollbooths checked the body temperatures of
motorists and their passengers, but there was no mass stay-home as called for
by the authorities.
Raisi defended Iran’s reluctance to resort to the sort of “coercive powers”
granted to police in France and Italy to force people off the streets.
He said checkpoints had been set up around major cities to test suspected
cases and that those found positive were being sent home to self-quarantine.
That contrasted with earlier guidance from the government which had said
that anyone suspected of having COVID-19 would be quarantined.
In holiday messages broadcast on Friday, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised that Iran would overcome the
outbreak.
BSS/AFP/RY/1808