President Rouhani: Wearing masks will become mandatory in public places

President Hassan Rouhani says wearing masks will become mandatory as of July 5 in all places of public gathering that have been declared high-risk by the Health Ministry.

According to Press TV, President Rouhani made the remarks while addressing a meeting of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus in Tehran on Sunday.

“Since the first week following the outbreak of this virus I have said that we must learn to live with it for a long time to come... People must know that our imperative is to prevent this virus from hitting its peak in a steep curve in every province it has shown up,” he said.

Rouhani added that observing social distancing is the main principle for preventing further spread of this virus.

He added, “The second point is that in all places of gathering, we consider using face masks obligatory. Arrangements must be made, so that the use of masks will become obligatory as of July 5” until the end of the current Iranian calendar month (July 21), before making a new decision.

“We have a list of all places of gathering, which have been marked as ‘red’ by the Health Ministry and ... everybody must observe the relevant instructions.”

Iran registers 144 more coronavirus deaths in past 24 hours

Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health, Sima Sadat Lari, announced on Sunday that 222,669 individuals have been so far confirmed has being infected with the new coronavirus across the country.

She added that 144 virus deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll to 10,508.

The official also reported 2,489 COVID-19 cases during the same period, 1,406 of whom have been hospitalized.

Lari said as many as 183,310 individuals have recovered from the coronavirus, adding that 1,610,869 people have been tested for the virus in the country so far.

SS