Iran on Sunday instituted the mandatory use of the mask amid growing fears about deaths reported by coronavirus, even when its audience ignores the danger of COVID-19 disease it causes.
The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cast a symbol of himself under a mask in recent days, urging public officials and the 80 million people of the Islamic Republic to use them to prevent the spread of the virus.
But public opinion polls and a walk through one of Tehran’s streets show widespread apathy over a pandemic that saw Iran in February among the first countries to be hit after China. to take serious warnings into account.
“Let me start by thanking our wonderful people,” a fitness employee shouts in a dangerous fabric cover suit in a hospital hallway in a dark TV ad. “You hand in hand with the coronavirus has defeated us!”
The new regulations mark a turning point for Iran, which has struggled to balance provincial closures to prevent the spread of the virus with concerns about staating an economy that already suffers from U. S. sanctions after America’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. They have also played a role in this Shia theocracy, as the government has for weeks refused to close shrines where the faithful touch or kiss the cover bars of the tombs.
For a while, it has become obvious that restrictions and public concern had worked, as new reported instances and deaths from the virus had fallen to their lowest point in May, but new instances increased again, and officials first said larger evidence was needed. increasing numbers even as they lifted restrictions to bring economic activity to life.
In mid-June, the daily death toll fell 3 figures. On Sunday, Iran had its highest death toll in a single day in the pandemic, with 163 deaths.
Fears persist that Iran’s actual number of deaths from the virus is nearly double the reported figures, as noted in an April parliamentary report. Masoud Mardani, a member of the country’s coronavirus corridor group, recently said sampling random antibody tests reported that 18 million Iranians Iran has been affected by the virus, giving no additional details. Iran has reported only more than 240,000 cases shown.
“We see that other people are inflamed with the virus as a bad thing and hide it,” masked President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday, according to a transcript on the presidency’s website. “If someone knows they have become inflamed with a coronavirus, they have a human and devoted duty to tell others. ‘
To combat the spread of the virus, the Iranian government has issued the order for the mask. The new regulations require those on the Tehran subway to travel by bus or indoors to use them. Rohani said “public services. ” You will also be prompted to wear a mask.
Until then, dressing in a mask in Iran had been encouraged, but it remained a non-public option. It follows the evolution of the perspectives and contradictory messages of the clinical network on the usefulness of the mask since the beginning of the pandemic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began in April urging Americans to cover their faces to prevent the virus. In June, the World Health Organization superseded his point of view, recommending that other people wear cloth masks if they may simply not know their social distance. being over 60 years old or underlying fitness problems. These masks also help prevent the asymptomatic from spreading the virus.
Around the world, regulations for dressing in masks vary from country to country. In Asia, the mask is mandatory in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. In China, other people wear masks, which is mandatory in some areas. Japan urges others to wear a mask in certain circumstances, but this is not mandatory. And despite mandatory mask regulations in India, poor reuse of the mask for days while physical distance remains rare.
In the Middle East, masks are mandatory in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, their application varies.
In Iran, other people remain reluctant to wear masks, although it has not become a policy like in the United States, but turns out to be fatigue.
The ISPA public polling station published a survey of 1,055 citizens of Tehran in June, it appears that only 41% remain very concerned about the virus, up from 46% in May and 58% in April, with no margin for error in the investigation.
This lack of fear can also be seen in media reports suggesting that most new coronavirus patients have completed weddings, parties and funerals with other people’s giant teams. The increase in cases also coincided with Eid ul-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadaan, in which others celebrate with their loved ones.
At two busy gas stations, a firm reporter counted 15 out of 95 drivers dressed in masks, while two of the station’s 11 workers wore masks.
“You don’t want to wear a mask,” said Mohammad Ghasemi, a 27-year-old worker at one of the stations. ”I use the subway twice a day when there are many other people without esttachment (social). ”
The position and quality of the mask also remain a concern. The diversity of masks ranges from 10 cents to $3, which can be a lot, as the Iranian rial has fallen to traditionally low levels against the dollar.
And in a country where more than part of its population is under the age of 35, the virus has not been a major fear for its young people, it can be fatal for the elderly and those with pre-existing diseases. feeling of Hamid Sharifi, 23, smoking a cigarette on a street in Tehran.
“I don’t think it’s as damaging as they said at first,” Sharifi said, unmasked, before walking away from the crowd in the capital.
Samad Rostami, a 35-year-old merchant, disagreed.
“If we continue like this, our hospitals will be complete and patients will lie on the streets,” he said. “We are approaching the point of rupture of the disaster. ” (AP)
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