A senior Industry Ministry official said that output inside Iran had topped six million face mask per day to respond to the growing demand for the protective gear amid the pandemic.

“We assure all walks of life in the society about the availability of masks required for fighting the coronavirus,” Keyvan Gordan told IRNA adding that 50 factories are currently manufacturing face masks inside Iran.

Gordan said that Iran’s total output figure for face masks could be higher if production by military forces and volunteer groups are included in the tally.

He said Iran has maintained a blanket ban on exports of various types of face masks since the start of the outbreak except for a brief period of time when limited shipments of N95 respirators had been allowed.

Rouhani said Iran would have to live with the virus for the “long haul”, as he announced the latest measures to combat it.

Mask-wearing would be “obligatory in covered spaces where there are gatherings”, he said during a televised meeting of the anti-virus taskforce.

According to him, the measure would come into force as of next Sunday, continue until July 22, and would be extended if necessary.

Rouhani said the Health Ministry had devised “a clear list” of the types of spaces and gatherings deemed high-risk.

He did not say what the penalty would be for those who fail to observe the measure.

Iran has refrained from enforcing full lockdowns to stop the pandemic’s spread, and the use of masks and protective equipment has been optional in most areas.

According to Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, services would not be provided to those without masks in areas such as government organizations and shopping malls.

But implementing the measure may be difficult, as according to Tehran’s mayor, many do not wear masks in places like the capital’s public transport network, where it is already mandatory.

“Fifty percent of metro passengers wear masks… and even fewer in buses,” Mayor Pirouz Hanachi said.

“We can’t forcefully confront people without masks,” he added.

The government launched an “#I wear a mask” campaign on Saturday and pleaded with Iranians to observe guidelines aimed at curbing infections.

One Iranian is infected with COVID-19 every 33 seconds and one dies from the disease every 13 minutes, Harirchi said on Saturday.

Zanjan in northwestern Iran has already reimposed restrictive measures for two weeks, its governor said in a televised interview.

It followed a “certain indifference from Zanjan residents and as the number of our (virus) deaths picked up again in recent weeks,” said Alireza Asgari.

The limitations include closing wedding halls and a ban on funeral events held at mosques, as they can lead to large gatherings, he added.

Iran reported its first COVID-19 cases on February 19 and it has since struggled to contain the outbreak.

The Health Ministry on Sunday announced 144 virus deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest for a single day since April 5, raising the total to 10,508.

Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari also raised total confirmed infections to 222,669, with 2,489 new cases during the same period.

Official figures have shown an upward trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran hit a near two-month low in daily recorded infections.

“Considering the rising numbers, I plead with you to definitely use masks outside and in covered places,” Lari said.

Iran closed schools, canceled public events, and banned movement between its 31 provinces in March, but the government progressively lifted restrictions from April to try to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

The increasing virus caseload has seen some previously unscathed provinces classified as “red” – the highest level on Iran’s color-coded risk scale – with authorities allowing them to reimpose restrictive measures if required.

According to Rouhani, the measure would also be extended to provinces with “red” counties.

“Any county that is red, its provincial (virus) committee can propose reimposing limitations for a week”, which could be extended if needed, he said.

He also is experiencing its toughest year because of US sanctions coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s been the most difficult year due to the enemy’s economic pressure and the pandemic,” Rouhani said.

“The economic pressure that began in 2018 has increased … and today it is the toughest pressure on our dear country.”

US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 from Iran’s nuclear deal with major powers and reimposed sanctions

AFP and Reuters contributed to this story.

 

Officials don’t want healthy people using medical masks because of fears they would buy them all (kind of like toilet paper) and not leave them for health care workers, USA Today wrote.
We have the answer: Make your own.
The face mask doesn’t need to be professional-grade to help fight against COVID-19. According to recent studies, the virus can spread between people in proximity by coughing, sneezing or even speaking.
It is important to note that covering your face with a piece of cloth won’t protect you. But, it could help you from spreading the virus if you’re like some people who lack symptoms and don’t know they have it.
Sewing your own mask is easy, says Jeannette Childers, who’s 77 and lives in Mesa, Arizona. She’s among scores of volunteers across the country sewing face mask. So far, she’s made 65.
Note: Make sure your printer is set up to print at “actual size.”
1. Cut material and interfacing to 12 x 9 inches
2. Iron interfacing to the material (adhesive side to the back of material)
3. Once ironed, fold the fabric in half with interfacing on the outside
4. Cut two pieces of elastic — each 7-inches long
5. Pin and sew 1/4-inch from the edge leaving a two-inch gap in the center
6. Put the elastic band on each corner, inside the material and pin to keep in place, making sure the elastic is not twisted. Pinning in center as well
7. Using the pattern, mark locations of pleat lines and add pins on both sides
8. Fold 3 pleats. Sew around the entire perimeter of the mask, this holds the pleats in place and closes the 2-inch gap
All you have to do is remove the pins, test out your new mask and head out to do your grocery shopping or wherever might make social distancing difficult.
While you’re at it, make extra to donate. The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators, which are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for health care workers.

The advice came as America logged another huge rise in its death toll — almost 1,500 in one day — and as new infections continued unabated, according to AFP.

The World Health Organization said that medical masks should be prioritized for health workers, but it opened the door to greater public use of homemade masks or other mouth coverings as a way to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

According to Reuters, a senior WHO official told reporters there was some possibility of airborne transmission of the virus that has now infected over one million people and killed 50,000 people worldwide since emerging in China last December.

But the main driver of the pandemic was still believed to be sick people with symptoms who were coughing and sneezing and contaminating surfaces or other people.

“We must preserve medical surgical respirator masks for our frontline workers. But the idea of using respiratory coverings or mouth coverings to prevent coughing or sneezing projecting disease into the environment and towards others … that in itself is not a bad idea,” Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, told a news conference.

Since COVID-19 emerged late last year, around 1.1 million people have fallen ill. Almost 60,000 people have died.

Europe accounts for the lion’s share of the dead, with Italy and Spain bearing the brunt.

But the situation is rapidly deteriorating in the United States, and President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday suggested widespread use of simple masks or scarves might help stem the rocketing infection rate.

“It’s going to be really a voluntary thing,” he said. “You don’t have to do it and I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that’s okay.”

Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the US National Institutes of Health, cited “recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing.”

The US recommendation will likely worsen an already severe shortage of masks in the United States and Europe, which both rely heavily on imports from China.

Officials in New York, the worst affected part of the US, began advising people to wear masks some days ago, and there were signs on the streets that the advice was being heeded.

“I am trying to protect me and my family. If everybody protects themselves, it’s better for all of us,” Eddie Marrero, a 58-year-old handyman, told AFP.

Around 277,000 Americans have tested positive for the disease, and the infection curve shows no sign of flattening, despite nine in ten citizens living under some sort of lockdown.

Field hospitals are sprouting in convention centers, sports arenas and parking lots all over the country as states gird for an expected influx of patients.

China, which appears to be over the worst of its outbreak, on Saturday held a national day of mourning for its dead — well over 3,000 people have died in the country where the virus first emerged late last year.

Cars, trains, and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens wailed, as flags were flown at half staff from 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT).

Beijing has said the observance is a chance to mourn virus “martyrs” — an honorific title bestowed by the government this week on 14 medical workers who died fighting the outbreak — including the man who was punished by officials for raising the initial alarm.

Spaniard Javier Lara survived after being put on oxygen in an overcrowded intensive care unit —  a shock to a 29-year-old who was athletic and doesn’t smoke.

“I was panicking that my daughter would get infected. When I started showing symptoms, I said I wouldn’t hold her or go near her,” he said, describing facing death with an eight-week-old as the “worst moment” in his life.

But there were also signs the peak may have hit on the continent.

Hardest-hit Italy recorded 766 new deaths but its infections rose by just four percent, the lowest yet, according to the civil protection service.

“It’s true that the latest figures, as high as they are, give us a little bit of hope, as the growth in new infections is slower than it was a few days ago,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, where strict social distancing measures are credited with curbing the spread.

“But it is definitely much too early to see a clear trend in that, and it is certainly too early to think in any way about relaxing the strict rules we have given ourselves,” she added.

‘Worst yet to come’

There was, however, yet another warning over the fate of the less developed world, especially conflict zones or places with large refugee populations.

“The worst is yet to come,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, referring to countries such as Syria, Libya, and Yemen. “The COVID-19 storm is now coming to all these theaters of conflict.”