Iran’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 50,000

Tehran, Dec 6 : The COVID-19 epidemic has claimed 50,016 lives in Iran, with the total cases to 1,028,986 in the country, according to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
The ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said at daily briefing on Saturday that 12,151 new COVID-19 infections had been confirmed in the past 24 hours with 321 new fatalities. Of the newly infected, 1,562 had to be hospitalized, Xinhua news agency reported.
As of Saturday, 719,708 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, but 5,817 others are currently in critical condition, she added.
Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani reported on the same day a significant decrease in COVID-19 infection levels across the country, after restrictions announced two weeks ago.
“Compared to the 160 red zones we had two weeks ago, we have now reduced them to 64 red zones with the efforts and observance from the people,” Rouhani said in an online meeting of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus.
However, he warned that seven counties are in the state of ultrared where the infection rate is rising, according to reports.