Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned on Wednesday that his government is poised to introduce tough new measures against the coronavirus, AFP reports.
Rouhani said that the new measures, which could be adopted as soon as Wednesday evening, include Iran’s first restrictions on movement to try and stem the spread of the virus, and are likely to be “difficult” for the public. So far, Iran has resisted imposing any lockdown, choosing instead to rely on verbal appeals for people to stay home, but those have been widely ignored.
“There has been a long debate within the national committee for fighting the coronavirus about how to strengthen the measures we have taken,” Rouhani said in televised comments to the cabinet. “We need to step up those measures.” He added that “it may create problems for people’s travel plans.”
A Health Ministry official said on Wednesday that 2,077 people had died so far from the coronavirus in Iran, with 143 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, Reuters reported. The total number of people infected with the coronavirus has climbed to 27,017, Alireza Vahabzadeh tweeted.