TEHRAN: Iran reported 75 deaths and more than 2,000 new cases of novel coronavirus on Friday as calls mounted for all people to wear masks in public.
“The spread of coronavirus in society has reached such a level that the use of masks is necessary for everyone,” said Ghassem Janbabaee, a deputy health minister.
“Continuing to neglect health protocols can lead to further outbreaks and recurrences in the near future,” he said, quoted late Thursday on the ministry’s website.
Officials have repeatedly urged Iranians to wear masks on public transport, including on Tehran’s underground train network where a large number of commuters still opt to travel without them.
Semi-official news agency ISNA on Friday published a series of pictures showing people in public without masks in the hard-hit southwestern province of Khuzestan.
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 2,369 new infections in the past 24 hours took the total to 182,545.
She said 75 new deaths brought the overall toll to 8,659.
There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran’s official figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher.
Iran reported its first COVID-19 cases on February 19 — two deaths in the Shiite holy city of Qom.
The government has struggled to contain what quickly became the Middle East’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak.
Since April, however, it has gradually lifted health protocols in order to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.
That has coincided with a fresh surge in cases, which the government denies amounts to a second wave, saying they are due to increased testing.
Calls grow for Iranians to wear masks to stop virus
Calls grow for Iranians to wear masks to stop virus
- Officials have repeatedly urged Iranians to wear masks on public transport
- There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran’s official figures
Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability
- Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community
LONDON: The family of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank have demanded accountability, amid mounting scrutiny over a surge in settler violence and a lack of prosecutions.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a US citizen born in Philadelphia, was killed near the city of Ramallah on Wednesday, becoming at least the sixth American citizen to die in incidents involving Israeli settlers or soldiers in the territory in the past two years.
Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community. Witnesses said that stones were thrown by both sides before settlers opened fire, wounding at least three villagers.
Abu Siyam was struck and later died of his injuries.
Abdulhamid Siyam, the victim’s cousin, said the killing reflected a wider pattern of impunity.
“A young man of 19 shot and killed in cold blood, and no responsibility,” he told the BBC. “Impunity completely.”
The US State Department said that it was aware of the death of a US citizen and was “carefully monitoring the situation,” while the Trump administration said that it stood ready to provide consular assistance.
The Israeli embassy in Washington said the incident was under review and that an operational inquiry “must be completed as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said troops were deployed to the scene and used “riot dispersal means to restore order,” adding that no IDF gunfire was reported.
The military confirmed that the incident remained under review and said that a continued presence would be maintained in the area to prevent further unrest.
Palestinians and human rights organizations say such reviews rarely lead to criminal accountability, arguing that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers accused of violence.
A US embassy spokesperson later said that Washington “condemns this violence,” as international concern continues to grow over conditions in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians and human rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to investigate or prosecute settlers accused of violence against civilians.
Those concerns were echoed this week by the UN, which warned that Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank may amount to ethnic cleansing.
A UN human rights office report on Thursday said that Israeli settlement expansion, settler attacks and military operations have increasingly displaced Palestinian communities, with dozens of villages reportedly emptied since the start of the Gaza war.
The report also criticized Israeli military tactics in the northern West Bank, saying that they resembled warfare and led to mass displacement, while noting abuses by Palestinian security forces, including the use of unnecessary lethal force and the intimidation of critics.
Neither Israel’s foreign ministry nor the Palestinian Authority has commented on the findings.
