TEHRAN – Bookstores across Iran were allowed to resume activities from Saturday after a nearly two-month shutdown due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

However, the bookstores must obtain the Health Ministry’s permission beforehand, the ministry announced in a press release.

Any bookstore lacking permission will be prosecuted. They have been asked to respect health protocols during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Earlier last week, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi said that the coronavirus outbreak in Iran will cause an estimated loss of over $230 million in the art and culture sectors by April 19, the end of the first month of the Iranian calendar year.

President Hassan Rouhani also has already said that low-risk economic activities would resume from April 11 in the country.

The shutdown of bookstores following the spread of COVID-19 across Iran pushed many people into using online stores offering audiobooks and e-books.

FIDIBO, a major online Iranian store for audio and electronic books, said in early April that the number of e-book readers has increased four times higher than the number registered before the COVID-19 epidemic in the country in February.

Photo: A customer (L) and booksellers are seen at a shop in Tehran on April 18, 2020 after the reopening of the bookstores across Iran after a nearly two-month shutdown due to the new coronavirus pandemic. (IBNA/Hamid Hafezi)  

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