Death toll soars in Iran as clerics refuse to close shrines

Iranian pedestrians wearing face masks walk on a sidewalk in western Tehran, as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus spiked again on Sunday. (AP)

The outbreak in Iran has prompted its neighbors to seal their borders to Iranians. (File/AFP)

• 86,000 people infected globally
• In China 79,824 have been infected. Record number of deaths in China

TEHRAN, DUBAI, BERLIN: Iran’s Health Ministry raised on Sunday the nationwide death toll from the new coronavirus to 54 as the number of infected cases jumped overnight to 978 people.

The ministry’s spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said new cases were confirmed in a number of cities, including Mashhad, which is home to Iran’s most important Shiite shrine that attracts pilgrims from across the region.
Calls by Iran’s civilian government to clerics to close such shrines to the public have not been uniformly followed. The shrine in Mashhad is among those that have remained open.
The new figures represent 11 more deaths than reported on Saturday and a whopping 385 new cases of infections. The new numbers, however, bring down the percentage of deaths to infections from 20 percent to around 5.5 percent. Still, that is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections may also be much higher.
Also on Sunday, Iran’s state broadcaster said all flights to the city of Rasht, the capital of nothern Gilan province, had been suspended. It gave no reasons why.
Worldwide, the virus has taken a toll of more than 2,900 deaths with over 86,000 people having infected globally.
A total of 2,870 people have died in mainland China and 79,824 have been infected by the virus.

UAE Lockdown
Two luxury hotels in Abu Dhabi, which had been in lockdown amid concerns about the coronavirus during a professional cycling event, allowed some guests to leave on Sunday after they tested negative for the disease, company spokespersons said.
The W Abu Dhabi and the Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi had been placed under lockdown on Friday as authorities screened all guests, including scores of professional cyclists. There were concerns they might have interacted with two Italian cyclists who were suspected of contracting the disease.
The guests at the two hotels, on Yas Island in the UAE’s capital, included 140 professional cyclists participating in the final two stages of the UAE Tour, which was also canceled after the tests.

Jump in Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has jumped to 117 from 66, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said on Sunday.
A German government crisis committee has widened cross-border travel guidelines and canceled major international events, and the health minister has advised people with cold symptoms to stay away from mass events.

FASTFACTS

• Two luxury hotels in Abu Dhabi allowed some guests to leave on Sunday after they tested negative for the disease.

• The majority of the cases in Kuwait are either people who had traveled to Iran or been in contact with people who were there.

• Of Malaysia’s total cases of 29, 22 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

More than half of the cases are in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state where several schools and day care centers will be closed on Monday to try to prevent the spread of the virus after staff members tested positive.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the mass-selling Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he expected a vaccine for the coronavirus to be available by the end of the year.

New case in Kuwait
Kuwait has confirmed a new case of coronavirus infection, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the disease in the country to 46, a Health Ministry official told a media conference on Sunday.
The majority of the cases, including the one identified in the past 24 hours, are either people who had traveled to Iran or been in contact with people who were there, she said.

More in Malaysia
Malaysia reported four new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 29. All of the new cases were among Malaysian nationals, one of whom had traveled to China while another had traveled recently to Milan, northern Italy, according to the Health Ministry.

UK expects more
Britain announced a jump in coronavirus cases on Sunday, with 12 new infections taking the total to 35, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he expected the number to rise further.
Johnson will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee on Monday, signalling a step up in attempts to tackle a virus that began in China, where authorities estimate it has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide.
“We’ve found about 35 people in this country have, or have had, the illness and clearly there may be more. That is likely now to spread a bit more,” Johnson said.