Iran imposes outright ban on travel in Ramadan holidays to curb coronavirus
The Iranian government has imposed an outright ban on all domestic travels during the holidays marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan beginning May 11 in a bid to contain a fresh surge in coronavirus infections.
Iran’s National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting Coronavirus announced the decision following a Thursday meeting attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The four-day blanket ban would end on midday May 15 and would cover all intercity travels in Iran, said a report by Fars news agency.
It said the ban would not distinguish between cities based on a color-coding system which shows the severity of coronavirus outbreaks in various locations in Iran.
The announcement comes as the government struggles to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus in Iran nearly 15 months after the disease started to spread in the country.
It also comes amid concerns that a mutated and more dangerous from of the virus that is currently circulating in India and Pakistan could hit Iran from the eastern borders andmake the situation more complicated.
The blanket travel ban comes a month after the government began imposing hefty fines on drivers traveling between cities that were on a red alert over the spread of the coronavirus.
Health ministry officials say restrictions on gatherings and movement have helped reduce the number of positive cases and deaths from the virus.
Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said that the daily death toll from the coronavirus had dropped by 11 to a total of 338 on Thursday.
She said, however, that the daily number of confirmed cases had surged by over 3,000 to 18,409.
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