coronavirus pandemic Archives - Iran News Daily

Gov’t Announces 6-Day General Lockdown Amid COVID Surge

mahla — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 05:36:47 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Gov’t Announces 6-Day General Lockdown Amid COVID Surge. Gov’t Announces 6-Day General Lockdown Amid COVID Surge. The spokesman for National Task Force for Fighting Covid-19 said Saturday that from Monday until end of Saturday August 21, there will be a travel ban in place between provinces.

The spokesman for Iran’s National Task Force for Fighting Covid-19 Alireza Raisi said on Saturday that from tomorrow, Sunday (August 15) at 12 o’clock, there will be a ban on travelling between provinces in place until Saturday, August 21.

Raisi said that the Law Enforcement and the judicial officials will make sure that the restrictions are respected throughout the country.

The restrictions include fines for drivers who violate the rules.

The spokesman said that all the government bodies will be off work or will be working from home from Monday, August 16 until end of Saturday, August 21.

The national anti-coronavirus task force, led by President Ebrahim Raisi, said on Saturday the nationwide shutdown will begin on Monday and last through Saturday. All offices, banks and non-essential businesses will be shut down.

An intra-city travel ban will also be instated from Sunday morning and last through Saturday night.

Tehran experienced its deadliest day on record on Friday, when 390 people died, including 216 from COVID-19. That figure broke a grim record in the 51-year history of Behesht-e Zahra, the capital’s cemetery, which is the largest in Iran.

The latest color-coded map denoting the severity of outbreaks shows that zero cities are classified as “blue”, which indicates the lowest level of alarm. That is while a whopping 358 counties, encompassing almost all of the country’s 31 provinces, are classified as “red”.

This is while earlier this month, Health Minister Saeed Namaki called for an urgent two-week lockdown enforced by the military to prevent a full collapse of the country’s strained health system.

Several earlier lockdowns were easily flouted amid lax enforcement by authorities.

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Global Coronavirus Cases Crosses 40 Million

reporter 1222 — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 07:46:14 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Worldwide coronavirus cases crossed 40 million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere fuelled a resurgence in the spread of the disease.

The Reuters tally is based on official reporting by individual countries. Experts believe the true numbers of both cases and deaths are likely much higher, given deficiencies in testing and potential under-reporting by some countries.

The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic continues to pick up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 to 30 million, the 44 days between 10 and 20 million, and the three months it took to reach 10 million cases from when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, in early January.

Record one-day increases in new infections were seen at the end of last week, with global coronavirus cases rising above 400,000 for the first time.

There were an average of around 347,000 cases each day over the past week, compared with 292,000 in the first week of October.

The United States, India, and Brazil remain the worst affected countries in the world. COVID-19 cases in North, Central, and South America represent about 47.27% or nearly half of global cases.

Around 247 cases are seen per 10,000 people in the United States. For India and Brazil, those numbers stand at 55 cases and 248 cases per 10,000 people respectively.

New cases are growing at over 150,000 a day in Europe, as many countries including Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic have reported record daily increases in the number of coronavirus infections.

Europe currently accounts for over 17% of the global cases and nearly 22% of the deaths related to the virus worldwide.

Parts of the UK were put into lockdown as Prime Minister Boris Johnson bid to contain a second wave of infections through local measures.

France imposed curfews while other European nations are closing schools, canceling surgeries, and enlisting student medics.

President Donald Trump called for a big economic stimulus as US infections surpassed eight million, with record spikes in several states.

States across the Midwest are seeing a rise in coronavirus cases, with new infections and hospitalizations rising to record levels.

India’s cumulative tally of coronavirus infections stood at 7.43 million on Saturday, with the number of active infections slipping below 800,000 for the first time in 1.5 months.

Iran, the Middle Eastern country hardest-hit by the coronavirus, extended restrictions and closures in the capital Tehran into a third week on Saturday as its death toll rose above 30,000.

Since the pandemic started, over 1.1 million people have died due to COVID-19, with the global fatality rate hovering around 2.8% of the total cases.

An official at the World Health Organization has said the global death toll from COVID-19 could double to 2 million before a successful vaccine is widely used and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic.

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Oil Exploration Slowing as Prices Dive

reporter 1222 — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 05:26:09 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The coronavirus pandemic that has slammed oil demand and prices is forcing energy majors to tighten their belts on exploration, even if finding new deposits remain essential to their existence.

While the sector is increasingly diversifying into greener energies such as electricity and wind power, its core business remains oil and gas.

“Questions abound over whether it is still profitable to look for oil given subdued demand growth prospects and a low-price environment,” Stephen Brennock, analyst at oil brokers PVM, told AFP.

“The answer seems not, judging by the recent spate of massive hydrocarbon asset writedowns.

“Set against this backdrop, I don’t expect a rebound in drilling in the medium-term.

“Instead, oil majors will be forced to beef up their green energy portfolios in order to survive,” Brennock said.

Slashed projects

Compared to pre-virus plans, the energy sector has slashed exploration projects in UK North Sea waters by 70 percent and by 30 percent off the coast of Norway, according to research group Westwood.

US oil giant ExxonMobil has cut its total exploration plans by 30 percent, or an investment reduction of $10 billion (€8.4 billion).

European rivals ENI, BP and Equinor have carried out similar moves, which have in turn hurt subcontractors including French oil services group CGG, which expects revenue to slump 40 percent this year.

In the United States, more than 30 oil exploration and production companies have this year filed for bankruptcy, according to Texan law firm Haynes and Boone.

If oil prices remain stuck around the current $40 per barrel level, a further 150 such companies could be lost by 2022, estimates research group Rystad Energy.

“Drilling programs will be hampered in the near-term, in particular in US shale areas but also elsewhere, because of immediate cost-cutting measures,” said JBC Energy analyst Raphaela Hein.

“In the past, we have seen that massive capital expenditure cuts to majors’ budgets did not really impact their future production.

“As such, we think that they will continue to look for new fields — maybe to a slightly lesser extent… and keep production within their long-term plans.

“Of course this will contribute to ensuring their survival,” she added.

Hein however said that Arctic projects appeared to be “economically unviable”.

This despite the vast area forecast to have 13 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas.

In July, Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Anglo-Dutch giant Shell announced a partnership to explore in the Arctic.

Markets don’t believe

While oil prices rebounded strongly after briefly turning negative in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s main oil contracts Brent North Sea and West Texas Intermediate have failed to build on those gains — and last week fell heavily to under $40.

“Markets right now do not believe there is a future for oil,” said SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop.

“For how long we’ll have reduced drilling depends on the oil price,” he added.

Even so, the administration of US President Donald Trump in August approved oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, angering environmentalists in the process.

While the oil price crisis is making the realization of such projects unlikely, “political will may still trump” that, said Hein of JBC energy.

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Iran Plans for COVID-19 Restrictions

reporter 1222 — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 09:55:47 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled plans for stricter health regulations to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, saying the new restrictions would first come into force in the capital.

Addressing a Saturday session of the Coronavirus Fight National Headquarters, Rouhani said the health restrictions for the battle with COVID-19 would be soon intensified in Tehran.

The new scheme and health protocols will later apply to other big cities across Iran, the president added.

He said the stepped-up restrictions would include punishment for not wearing a face mask or breaching the health protocols in public places.

The president called on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and clerics to promote the culture of observing the health protocols in the fight against the pandemic.

The daily death toll from coronavirus infection in Iran once again exceeded 200 on Friday, while the total number of cases since the outbreak of the disease in the country is close to 440,000.

More than 25,000 COVID-19 patients have died in Iran since February.

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2 Million People Infected with Corornavirus This Week: WHO

reporter 1222 — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 10:01:44 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The number of people who were infected with novel coronavirus worldwide increased by almost two million in the week of September 14-20, while the number of deaths grew by 37,700 in the reported period, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday night.

According to the organization’s weekly information bulletin, the overall number of officially confirmed cases topped 30.6 million, up 6% since the previous week. In the past seven days, the global organization was notified about almost 2 million cases and 37,700 deaths. As of September 20, the organization has official information about 950,000 coronavirus-related fatalities registered worldwide.

The most serious epidemiological situation remains in the North and South Americas, where the number of cases increased 38% compared to the previous week. At the same time, mortality declined by 22%. Almost 770,000 new cases were registered in the region between September 14 and 20, bringing the total case tally to 15.5 million. More than 19,000 deaths were registered in the reported period, with the overall number of fatalities reaching almost 530,000.

Almost 700,000 cases were reported in Southeast Asian countries, with the overall case count nearing 6.1 million. The death toll exceeds 101,000 people, up 9,300 in the week of September 14-20, TASS reported.

Europe posted the highest increase in fatalities in the reported period. More than 4,000 people died in the region between September 14 and 20, and the overall death toll neared 230,000. The number of confirmed cases in Europe almost reached 5.2 million, increasing by some 360,000 in the past seven days.

The number of cases grew by over 646,000 in India, by more than 273,000 in the United States and by more than 213,000 in Brazil. France recorded the highest growth in Europe, with almost 67,000 newly confirmed cases in one week, followed by Spain (over 50,000) and Russia (over 40,000).

In the past seven days, India reported over 8,000 fatalities, the United States – over 5,600 and Brazil – over 5,300.

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Chinese Retail Sales Up, Economy Recovery Continues

reporter 1222 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:35:55 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Chinese retail sales rose in August for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck, data showed Tuesday, as officials try to kickstart the crucial domestic consumer sector to fuel recovery in the world’s number-two economy.

Spending had previously remained sluggish despite China bringing the virus largely under control, with shoppers still cautious owing to global uncertainty – but economists believe the latest data suggests recovery is on a firmer footing, AFP reported.

The key indicator of consumer sentiment rose 0.5% on-year last month. A poll of analysts by Bloomberg News had forecast no growth.

Beijing has ramped up initiatives such as shopping festivals and voucher campaigns to spur consumer spending.

The latest reading is an improvement on the 1.1% drop seen in July and much better than the 20.5% plunge suffered in January-February when millions of people were put into lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading.

With external demand expected to remain weak as China’s major trading partners struggle to contain the disease, China has redoubled efforts to encourage its exporters to target its vast local market instead.

Oxford Economics economist Louis Kuijs said the economic recovery was “on a reasonably firm footing now… with solid investment growth, gradually recovering consumption momentum and resilient exports”.

Industrial output, which has recovered more quickly than retail, strengthened further, rising 5.6%, which also beat forecasts and improved on July’s 4.8% increase.

Julian Evans-Pritchard from Capital Economics said that with fiscal spending set to be ramped up and a revival in consumer confidence, China’s economy was on track to return to its pre-virus growth rate before the end of the year.

On Tuesday, National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Fu Linghui told reporters that China’s economy had a “sustained steady recovery”.

But he cautioned that with “mounting uncertainties” internationally and “pronounced domestic structural problems, there remains huge pressure to keep employment and businesses stable, and to safeguard people’s livelihood”.

The urban unemployment rate, a cause for concern given China’s large number of fresh graduates, inched down to 5.6%.

Analysts have warned that the real level of unemployment is likely higher than official numbers suggest, with smaller businesses hit hard by the virus fallout.

Despite the stronger data in August, Nomura chief China economist Lu Ting cautioned that rising US-China tensions could hit exports and manufacturing investment.

Although tensions with the US have escalated on various fronts, top negotiators from Washington and Beijing have been pushing ahead with a partial trade deal signed in January, which marked a truce in a long-running and bruising trade war.

And China’s customs tariff commission said Tuesday it would extend a year-long exemption of 16 categories of products from US tariffs, ranging from seafood products to anti-cancer drugs.

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Almost Two Third of US Disapproves of Response to Coronavirus

reporter 1222 — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 07:58:33 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Almost 2 in 3 Americans disapprove of US President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll released Sunday.

An ABC News-Ipsos poll determined that 65 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the president’s management of the COVID-19 crisis almost eight months after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Washington State.

Thirty-five percent of poll participants said they backed the president’s response to the pandemic. Sunday’s poll was the fourth since early July in which Trump’s approval rating for his management of the pandemic stayed in the low- to mid-30s range.

Approval for Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis is expectedly split among partisan lines, with 80 percent of Republicans, 31 percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats standing behind the president.

A majority of Americans also do not trust what Trump says about the virus and believe the president’s response to the virus was too slow.

A total of 68 percent of respondents said they do not trust what the president says about the pandemic. Almost three-quarters of Republicans — 74 percent — said they trust what Trump says on COVID-19, The Hill reported.

Respondents were more split on whether they trusted Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s rhetoric on the coronavirus, with 51 percent trusting him “a great deal” or a “good amount” and 49 percent trusting him “not so much” or “not at all.”

Most participants — 67 percent — said Trump acted too slowly in response to the pandemic, while less than 31 percent said he acted at the right pace, and 1 percent said he reacted too quickly.

More than a quarter of Republicans — 28 percent — said they thought the president acted too slowly on the pandemic, while more than two-thirds of Republicans — 69 percent — said he reacted at the right pace.

The ABC News-Ipsos poll was conducted between Sept. 11 and Sept. 12. It surveyed 533 adults from a national sample. The margin of error amounted to 4.7 percentage points.

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller reacted to the poll on ABC’s “This Week” by defending the president and the enthusiasm expressed for his campaign.

“Americans very much trust President Trump to help us recover with the economy, and Americans also believe that President Trump is the one who is best positioned to lead us to a vaccine,” he said.

The poll comes after interviews between Bob Woodward and Trump were released last week in which the president said he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic in public to avoid a panic, despite being aware it was “more deadly” than the flu.

Woodward’s book “Rage” is set to be released this week.

Johns Hopkins University data indicates that more than 6.4 million COVID-19 cases and 193,705 deaths have been confirmed in the US.

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Iran Sends Humanitarian Aids to Kyrgyzstan

reporter 1222 — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:32:10 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has shipped a second consignment of humanitarian aids to Kyrgyzstan to help the Central Asian country deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan said the country on Friday received the second shipment of humanitarian aids provided by Iran as part of assistance in the fight against COVID-19.

The Iranian consignment includes medical supplies, ventilators, thermometers, pulse oximeters, and coronavirus diagnostic test kits.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry also hailed the Iranian help as a testimony to warm relations between Tehran and Bishkek and their mutual support.

In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart in June, President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov expressed gratitude to Iran for providing medical assistance in the battle with the novel coronavirus.

“Iran has achieved good success in producing the equipment for the fight against coronavirus, and I’m glad that we can meet our demands in this field through Iran,” he said.

Pointing to the far-reaching impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the world economy, the Kyrgyz president also called for efforts to broaden the trade and economic relations and increase joint investment.

Back in May, Iran sent a consignment of humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The medical cargo weighing more than 3 tons was delivered by a charter flight from Mashhad to Bishkek on May 18.

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Coronavirus Cases Exceed 341,000 in Iran

reporter 1222 — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 11:32:33 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in Iran has surpassed 341,000, the Health Ministry said.

In a press conference on Saturday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the number of people tested positive for COVID-19 across the country has risen to 341,070 after the detection of 2,245 new cases since yesterday.

Of the new cases detected over the past 24 hours, 943 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,911 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions, Lari noted.

The death toll from COVID-19 in Iran has reached 19,492, she said, noting that the disease has taken the lives of 161 patients over the past 24 hours.

More than 295,600 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Lari also noted that over 2,836,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has exceeded 21.3 million and the death toll has surpassed 763,000.

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Coronavirus Cases in Latin America Exceed 6 Million

reporter 1222 — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 08:07:25 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Coronavirus cases in Latin America, the region of the world worst-affected by the pandemic, exceeded 6 million on Friday and continued to accelerate, according to a Reuters tally, as most of its nations begin to relax lockdown measures.

In Latin America, which has reported an average of more than 86,000 daily infections of the new coronavirus in the last seven days and more than 2,600 COVID-19 deaths, reached 6,000,005 confirmed cases by Friday evening and 237,360 deaths.

That accounts for just under one-third of the world’s total caseload and a similar share of reported deaths from the pandemic.

The Pan American Health Organization, the regional arm of the World Health Organization, warned this month of an increase in other diseases due to the saturation of health services and the suspension of routine vaccination campaigns as a result of the pandemic.

The International Monetary Fund predicted in June that the regional economy would contract 9.4% this year.

The region’s worst-affected country is Brazil, which has the most cases in the world after the United States, and 15% of the world’s total.

Peru and Chile also have the highest caseloads and number of deaths in the world per 100,000 inhabitants, of countries with more than 100,000 cases.

The region’s climb from 5 million to 6 million cases took 11 days, one day less than it took to reach the previous million.

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