Iranian president urges for proper implementation of social distancing plan

By Trend

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on the ministries in the country to prevent the ongoing rumors about the coronavirus outbreak, Trend reports via the presidential website.

During the phone talks with the ministers, Rouhani discussed the implementation of Iran's social distancing plan.

He urged to make sure that the process of having people return from celebrating the Nowruz holidays to their homes would not overwhelm the entry into cities and slow down the process of screen-testing for revealing the infected.

Rouhani also asked the restrictions to be implemented in accordance with the orders made by National Committee on Combating Coronavirus and to avoid any strict or negligent actions.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 27,300. Over 597,000 people have been confirmed as infected. Meanwhile, over 131,700 people have reportedly recovered.

Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. Several countries are working on a vaccine against the new virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 32,300 people have been infected, 2,378 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 11,000 have reportedly recovered from the disease.

The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.