TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday that individuals and business owners who do not wear masks leaving home or at their place of work will be fined from 500,000 rials (some $12 at the official rate of 42,000 rials) up to 10 million rials (around $240).

As soon as a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, they must immediately notify their place of work and family, so they must not hide their sickness, Rouhani said while headlining a live televised weekly national headquarters for coronavirus control in Tehran.

Another group being eyed for penalties are people who do not wear face masks and engage in potentially high-risk activities that spread the disease, according to Rouhani.

He emphasized that when the new restrictions are implemented, all state-run organizations and private businesses that offer services to clients who do not wear face masks will also face penalties.

On Saturday, a one-week closure of numerous businesses was imposed in Tehran to slow the spread of the virus.

Alireza Zali, head of the national headquarters for coronavirus control said that universities, schools, cinemas, beauty salons, events, sports clubs, cafes, indoor pools, and gyms are among places that should be shut down for one week in the capital.

 $100m allocated to purchase COVID-19 test kits

Rouhani also noted that $100 million has been earmarked to provide COVID-19 test kits.

When there is not yet a drug or vaccine for the virus, good hygiene is the best and only way to fight the disease, he stated.

“Yesterday, in a conversation with the Minister of Health, I announced that we are ready to increase the daily test by 10,000 tests.”

“We also discussed the purchase of tests that show the result in a quarter to twenty minutes.

So, a total of $100 million have been provided to purchase diagnostic kits; of course, we will soon use domestic products.”

Tehran in extremely severe condition

The situation in Tehran is extremely severe, Masoud Mardani, a member of the National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control, has said, adding, “If the upcoming holiday trips start, we will probably have to set up field hospitals.”

The transmission of the disease in Tehran is beyond acute and worrisome, and the process of dealing with the virus is very bad, he lamented.

The number of hospitalized patients in the capital has increased dramatically, and hospitals are overcrowded with no room for new patients - ICU beds are also overcrowded, and the number of deaths is rising, he said.

COVID-19 toll hits 28,000

In the press briefing on Saturday, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 3,875 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 496,253. She added that 403,950 patients have so far recovered, but 4,439 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

In the past 24 hours, 195 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 28,293, she added.

Lari noted that so far 4,284,413 COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

She said the high-risk “red” zones include provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azerbaijan, Markazi, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamedan, and Yazd.

The provinces of Kordestan, Hormozgan, Fars, and Golestan are also on alert.

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