Iran urges social distancing as coronavirus cases top 200,000
Iran urges social distancing as coronavirus cases top 200,000

Iran’s tally of confirmed coronavirus cases topped 200,000 on Friday, as state media continued to warn about a lack of proper social distancing despite a new surge of infections.
Daily deaths have exceeded 100 most of this week, for the first time in two months. The Health Ministry announced 120 deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 9,392, and 2,615 new cases for a total of 200,262.
State television showed several families picnicking without masks or social distancing. Reminded about the fact that one person was dying every 12 to 15 minutes, an unidentified family father said: “My daughter was getting depressed. We really had to get out of the house.”
Six of Iran’s 31 provinces are currently high-risk coronavirus areas, state said.