President Rouhani says Iran overcame third COVID-19 wave

Iran has overcome the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday.

Rouhani said this during the speech that was broadcast on television.

Iran consistently set anti-records for both infection and mortality from the COVID-19 in the middle and second half of November with an average of over 13,000 infections and more than 400 deaths.

The daily increase in the number of infection cases and deaths is currently decreasing after restrictions were introduced on Nov. 21, with the number of the ‘red’ cities under almost complete lockdown decreasing from 160 to 12 in the course of three weeks.

The infection rate fell below 8,000 on Dec. 13 for the first time since the beginning of November.

“I am very happy that we have managed to overcome the third wave of COVID-19 due to joint work of the people, medical staff and mobilised forces,’’ Rouhani said.

The total number of people infected with the COVID-19 in Iran has reached 1,131,077 with 52,883 deaths and 844,430 recovered.

The authorities reported the detection of the first case of the COVID-19 infection in the country on Feb. 19.

The authorities tighten or weaken the restrictions depending on the epidemiological situation in the cities.

The ‘red’ status of a city implies almost complete isolation, the ‘yellow’ introduces less stringent measures related to recreational activities without restrictions on movement.