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.

The post Gov’t Announces 6-Day General Lockdown Amid COVID Surge appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking to ILNA, Mohammadnejas said that rail and road exports and imports to and from Turkmenistan will be possible if there are Turkmen carts and trailers at the borders and Iranian drivers and their trailers are not allowed to enter Turkmenistan’s land.

On the trend of Iran-Turkmenistan trade after the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, he said after the pandemic, all the systems in the world faced challenges and crippled with major problems and changes, and regarding Iran and Turkmenistan trade ties, he can point to the closure of their borders.

He added that Iran and Turkmenistan borders were closed for 10 months and they were reopened under certain condition and the trade resumed.

Mohammadnejad went on to say that due to the lockdown in Turkmenistan and the fourth wave of the virus in Iran, there is no exact details on the amount of the road trade like the pre-COVID-19 era but the three borders of Inchebron, Sarakhs and Lotfabad are active and the trade with Turkmenistan and other countries continue like the past.

He reiterated that exports via railway system are active but the road trade has been stopped and the border markets due to the lack of traffic of trucks have been almost idle.

Mohammadnejad noted that Iranian drivers and their trucks and trailers are not allowed to enter Turkmenistan and exports and imports to inside Turkmenistan are carried out through Turkmen trailers and carts.

He said Iran’s major imports from Uzbekistan are carried out via the Lotf Abad border while Iran’s exports to Tajikistan are done via this border but due to dispute between Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, Iran’s exports to Tajikistan are done via Uzbekistan.

Earlier this month the Iranian Expediency Council okayed  the creation of a free trade and industrial zone in Incheh-Borun in Golestan province on the border with Turkmenistan. Incheh-Boron is one of the key points along the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran rail corridor (north-south).

The post Iranian Drivers Not Allowed to Travel in Turkmenistan appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post TUC Calls for Immediate Public Inquiry into COVID Deaths appeared first on Iran News Daily.

India’s number of cases surged by 349,691 in the past 24 hours, the fourth straight day of record peaks, and hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.

“We were confident, our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave, but this storm has shaken the nation,” Modi said in a radio address.

Modi’s government has faced criticism that it let its guard down, allowed big religious and political gatherings to take place when India’s cases plummeted to below 10,000 a day and did not plan on building up the healthcare systems.

Hospitals and doctors have put out urgent notices that they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.

People were arranging stretchers and oxygen cylinders outside hospitals as they desperately pleaded for authorities to take patients in, Reuters photographers said.

“Every day, it the same situation, we are left with two hours of oxygen, we only get assurances from the authorities,” one doctor said on television.

Outside a Sikh temple in Ghaziabad city on the outskirts of Delhi the street resembled an emergency ward of a hospital, but crammed with cars carrying COVID-19 patients gasping for breath as they were hooked up to hand held oxygen tanks.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal extends lockdown by a week

Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday the city state would continue to be under a lockdown till May 3, as coronavirus cases rise steeply.

“A lockdown was the last weapon we had to deal with the coronavirus but with cases rising so quickly we had to use this weapon,” he said.

India’s total tally of infections stands at 16.96 million and deaths 192,311 after 2,767 more died overnight, health ministry data showed.

In the last month alone, daily cases have gone up eight times and deaths by 10 times. Health experts say the death count is probably far higher.

The country of 1.3 billion people is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warned in an op-ed published Saturday in the Washington Post.

“Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on twitter.

“We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India’s health care heroes.”

US concerned by massive surge in India

The United States said it was deeply concerned by the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and was racing to send aid to India.

Washington, however, has faced criticism in India for its export controls on raw materials for vaccines put in place via the Defense Production Act and an associated export embargo in February.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, this month urged US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on US exports of raw materials that is hurting its production of AstraZeneca shots.

Others such as US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi urged the Biden administration to release unused vaccines to India.

“When people in India and elsewhere desperately need help, we can’t let vaccines sit in a warehouse, we need to get them where they’ll save lives,” he said.

India’s surge is expected to peak in mid-May with the daily count of infections reaching half a million, the Indian Express said citing an internal government assessment.

The post India shaken by new coronavirus ‘storm’: PM Modi appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In the process of fighting with this virus, the governments have taken action to produce vaccine and most of these vaccines have been effective to 80 to 90 percent. This motivation in the world has enjoyed constructive economic impact and it has brought along the ground for passing through the economic anomalies in most places in the world.

Regarding this, one can look at the statistics and forecasts, for example, looking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s forecasts and approach. The IMF on last Tuesday and in its report on global economic growth forecast said that the world in the current year will witness the most economic growth in recent three decades following its efforts for vaccination against the COVID-19  and implementing economic stimulus plans in different countries.

This body in its upgraded report claimed the global economy will expand 6% in 2021, up from the 5.5% pace estimated in January. That would be the most since 1980 and registration of statistics by the IMF.  In the report of the Washington-based IMF, the fund has also seen global growth for 2022 at 4.4%, higher than the 4.2% projected in January.

The IMF in its forecast has also said that the pace of economic growth in poorer countries which are not able to carry out the economic stimulus plan will be slower comparing to other countries. This financial body has also predicted that those countries whose economies are too much dependent on tourism will face problem in coming out of economic recession and retaining its pre-COVID-19 era economic growth. That the world with production of vaccine has relatively become more hopeful to contain the COVID-19 can be completely seen in the approach, news and reports coming from the West.

But the condition in Iran is slightly different. The government should have begun the new Iranian calendar year with more restrictions on travels and lockdowns but it did not do it and it not only ruined the past relative successful management, but also has no comprehensive and clear standpoint on the economy affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Some of the Iranian economic experts like Dr. Vahid Shaqaqi Shahri believe that wrong, wish-like and dangerous optimism on the revival of the economy with the revival of the JCPOA is the weakness of the standpoint and planning of the government, and they believe this warning should be sent to the economic community in the Islamic Republic of Iran that pinning hopes on the JCPOA and unblocking the frozen assets in short term would be a dangerous and false hopefulness.

The economist Shaqaqi Shahri by pointing to recent remarks of the governor of Iran’s Central Bank on this year budget’s slow-pacing says, “This year’s budget bill is a set of views and opinions of Majlis, and lawmakers have had some slight changes in the submitted bill by the government and added only some notes and articles during the Majlis session on reviewing the bill. But that it can prepare the ground for economic growth is hardly believable. Regarding the future hopes, of course it should be mentioned that although the agreement between Iran and China is not yet in the legal sense a contract and it mostly sets the cooperation framework, it has had its own psychological impact and acceleration effect on the economic beliefs in Iran.”

Experts on the international trade know that usually sets of two or multi-lateral agreements are signed by the governments which are in line with easing trade relations like easing the private sector investment (for protecting interests of the private companies against the governments). Some of these agreements are so-called state agreements wherein some principles should be observed.

These types of agreements are usually long-term ones in order that in their frameworks and with enjoying their support, the international trade contracts among the individuals of both sided are signed. The main goal of these agreements is a general obligation of the governments for observing the rights of individuals in the contracts which are signed later. For example, the government with its sovereignty power does not take action in unilateral and unfair rescinding of its private sector nationals and companies’ contracts with their foreign counterparts or it does not confiscate the investment of the other party or does not give concessions or subsidies to the domestic companies in a way that the capital of the counterpart investing company is ruined. And if due to some reasons it happened, it would make up for the damage fairly.

These agreements are mainly categorized under the simple and executive agreements. The simple and executive agreements unlike legal and official ones (because it is ethical promise and not legal commitment) do not usually need the approvals of parliaments and they are generally easing the condition for bilateral cooperation. So one of the main reasons for signing the agreement between Iran and China is the behavior of Iran’s government with the Chinese companies especially after the JCPOA which led to unilateral rescinding of agreements and Iran’s refrain from continuing trade cooperation with the Chinese companies especially in the field of energy due to the arrival of the Western companies and overjoy of the government which made the Chinese companies and government be surprised and harmed.

Of course with departure of the Western companies, we once again turned towards China but this disappointment was a hurdle for regaining reciprocal trust which was fortunately settled reasonably through mediation of the leader of the establishment.

We should notice this point that the government by assuming the JCPOA agreement accepted all the limited restrictions but it was probable that those restrictions would be permanent, and it held national celebration. But regarding its trade partner of tough times, namely, China, we see huge onslaught by the pro-government media for reducing the significance of the impact of the agreement between Iran and China and calling for monopoly agreement with the West.

So China’s stepping in for signing a 25-year contract with Iran has been so a comprehensive agreement that has pushed the Westerners to think of restoring the JCPOA even if partially. Experts today believe that Iran with the Rouhani government can contain COVID-19 but economy will not improve but they forecast better outlook for the country for the second half of the year and return to the native Iranian economy with electing a president which tears in the protocols of liberal democracy.

The post World to Contain COVID-19 appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Israeli Protesters in Rallies against Lockdown Detained appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post One-Week Closure in Tehran to Contain Spread of Coronavirus appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post UK to Avoid Lockdown to Stop Unemployment appeared first on Iran News Daily.

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported 1,858 new coronavirus cases from Tuesday to Wednesday, bringing the total number of the infections to 378,752.

The Education Ministry on Tuesday announced plans for reopening of schools across Iran, which is the worst-hit country in the West Asia.

“Excluding regions with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, all schools will start education with in-person attendance in the new school year on September 5,” Iranian Education Minister Mohsen Haji-Mirzaei said.

He stressed that classes in high-risk regions will be held online.

Health Ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from coronavirus in Iran at 21,797, saying the disease took the lives of 125 patients from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to IRNA.

Of the new cases detected since Wednesday, 1,136 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,693 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She said that at least 326,800 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals.

Iran has been battling to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak since announcing its first cases on February 19.

Authorities have made wearing masks mandatory in enclosed spaces and reimposed restrictions lifted gradually since April.

While working on production of a vaccine for the disease, Iran is seeking to buy vaccines so far developed by other countries against the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the Health Ministry to make all the arrangements necessary for the purchase of vaccines developed by other countries, according to Tasnim News Agency.

The vaccines should be procured soon and undergo all the tests and trials inside Iran as the country is facing the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, he added.

Russia said on August 11 that it had developed the world’s first vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against COVID-19 and was in the final stage of human trials.

The post Schools Preparing for New Education Year appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post No Plan for New Coronavirus Lockdown, Germany Says appeared first on Iran News Daily.