TEHRAN – Philanthropists in Iran have made a total contribution of 7.7 trillion rials (nearly $182 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) in the fight against COVID-19, Shahin Mohammad Sadeghi, an advisor to the health minister, has said, IRNA reported.

Although lock-downs have reduced people’s income or many of them faced severe difficulties, they did not forget the underprivileged families and people were offering a wide range of volunteer services, as well as making face masks, disinfectants, or even some cooked food and distributed in deprived areas, in addition to financial assistance.

Some shop owners refused to receive monthly rent to help the tenants whose businesses were affected by the outbreak. Many also have volunteered to make up for the lack of medical staff, or help reduce the burden on the nurses and health workers.
Maryam Hazrati deputy health minister for nursing said in May that since the beginning of the epidemic, about 1,733 nurses, including faculty, graduate nursing students, retired and volunteer nurses, have offered to care for infected patients and provide counseling and training services at hospitals.

A total of 673 volunteer nurses were offering specialized counseling, she added.

COVID-19 cases at a record high

In a press briefing on Saturday, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 9,450 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 673,250. She added that 515,153 patients have so far recovered, but 5,506 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, coronavirus daily deaths and new cases hit the record high, as 423 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 37,832, she added.

Lari noted that so far 5,185,361 COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

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

The provinces of Hormozgan, Fars, and Golestan and Sistan-Baluchestan are also on alert.

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