Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has pleaded with Iranians to “take Coronavirus seriously”, amid a resurgence of the virus spurred by the Government’s lifting of stay-at-home restrictions.

Rouhani told the National Task Force for Fighting Coronavirus on Saturday that the observance of social distancing measures had fallen from about 80% to 20%: “Our dear people must continue to heed health protocols and refrain from unnecessary travels, so that we do not see another peak of the disease in the country.”

He cited the crowds at Imam Reza’s shrine in Mashhad, Iran’s second city, as a sign of the problem.

Official daily cases in Iran, an initial epicenter of the virus, had fallen to 803 on May 2. But amid Iran’s economic crisis, the Government began reopening businesses, mosques, shopping malls, and public spaces from April 11. Restaurants were permitted to reopen after Ramadan, and universities resumed classes on June 6.

Iran’s daily cases surged to more than 3,500 by June 4. On Saturday, 2,410 cases were reported, bringing the official total to 184,955. Another 71 deaths brought the official toll to 8,730.

Medics, activists, and some Iranian officials have said the actual number of cases and deaths is far higher.

“In Trouble”

Rouhani cited Hormozghan Province in southern Iran as an example of the ongoing danger. The province had been classified as a “white zone”, but “during Eid al-Fitr [the end of Ramadan earlier this month and due to travels], the province is in trouble right now”.

Other parts of Iran, such as Khuzestan in the southwest, are still “red zones”.

But Rouhani did not point to the need to reimpose stay-at-home measures. While saying that “both the government and the people should do their work without travel,” he put off the request of “red zones” to reimpose restriction until the next meeting of the Task Force.

Instead, the President tried to show fulfillment of the Supreme Leader’s priority of “Surge in Production” for the Iranian year.

Rouhani proclaimed that, despite Coronavirus, “The production has increased by an average of 10 to 12% compared to the first two months of last year [March 21-May 20], and industrial production is also enjoying a good situation.”

The statement contradicted Farhad Dezhpasand, who said last week that Iran’s GDP has contracted 15% during the pandemic.

Rouhani also defied Iran’s sinking trade figures, saying “many gates have been opened with neighbouring countries and the conditions of the Central Bank and the country’s currency have improved”.

In fact, Iran’s exports to China, its major customer, have fallen 53%. Trade with Turkey is down 70%. The Iranian rial has dropped near its all-time low, exchanging at 180,000:1 v. the US dollar.

Rouhani declared a “National Coalition for Life” on Saturday:

If we can make this year a year of bonding and victory, and be more united than ever before, it is a great achievement that could turn the threats and problems that this disease has created into opportunity.

meeting”.