Rouhani warns lockdown may be reimposed as Iran's COVID-19 tally nears 185,000

Iran's Health Ministry said that the overall number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country increased by 2,410 to 184,955 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise since June 5, while President Hassan Rouhani warned the population on Saturday that restrictions could be re-imposed.

Iran's Health Ministry said that the overall number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country increased by 2,410 to 184,955 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise since June 5, while President Hassan Rouh warned the population on Saturday that restrictions could be re-imposed.

According to the health authorities, 71 coronavirus carriers died over the given period, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 8,730 since the start of the outbreak. At the same time, the number of recoveries reached 146,748.

On June 4, Iran registered a record 3,574 cases in one day, and since then the country has since been reporting less than 3,000 cases a day. Nonetheless, Iran is seeing an upward trend for the fourth day in a row. Iran authorities have explained the spike by more aggressive testing.

Meanwhile, Rouh said that the coronavirus-related restrictions could be re-imposed and called on Irans to take the pandemic seriously. The President added that regional governors will be able to introduce the lockdown measures if needed.

Iran started to gradually ease the lockdown in mid-April. Since then, the Middle Eastern country allowed most businesses to reopen and lifted the ban on travel between provinces. (Sputnik/)

( With inputs from ANI )