Published 19:32 IST, June 27th 2020
Iran's supreme leader warns 'economic problems can worsen' if COVID-19 continues to spread
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the country’s economic problem would worsen if COVID-19 continues to spread across the nation.
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on June 27 reportedly warned that the country’s economic problem would worsen if COVID-19 continues to spread across the nation. The Islamic Republic has been struggling to contain the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak ever since it reported its first case back in February. While the country went into a complete lockdown in March, the government gradually lifted the restrictions in April in a bid to revive the hard-hit economy.
With a surging number of cases, Khamenei acknowledged the economic problems caused by the coronavirus. While speaking in a meeting with the judiciary, the supreme leader, however, also added that in the case of negligence and significant spread of the disease, economic issues will too increase.
He further noted the ‘sacrifice of health care workers, efforts by volunteer groups and overall cooperation by the people’, but he also added that the efforts were made early in the outbreak. He reportedly said that now, unfortunately, the ‘momentum and effort has waned’ among some of the people and authorities.
Khamenei’s statement comes after the Iranian health ministry recorded nearly 2,456 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the past 24 hours. In televised remarks, a health ministry spokeswoman, Sima Sadat Lari said that the country’s caseload has reached 220,180. She added that 125 of the new cases had died during the same period, and the overall fatalities crossed 10,000.
Iran’s struggling economy
Even with the rising trajectory in new confirmed cases, Iran has refrained from imposing a mandatory lockdown. However, the country is reportedly contemplating making face-covering compulsory at public spaces, especially the packed areas. While Iran is currently sitting at number ten in the list of most affected nations in terms of a number of cases, experts and officials have cast doubts on the official figures that have been revealed by authorities.
Iran was once one of the hardest-hit countries, however, with worsening economic problems, the nation decided to reopen businesses and ease lockdown restrictions. Amid the deadly pandemic, the Iranian rial also plunged to new lows against the US dollar. The country is also struggling because of the strict sanctions from the United States that the US President Donald Trump imposed after withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018.
(Image: AP)
19:33 IST, June 27th 2020