Iran announced Saturday, November 21, it had shut non-essential businesses in over half its cities and towns for up to two weeks and introduced movement restrictions to rein in its novel coronavirus outbreak.since it was hit by Covid-19 in February, with President Hassan Rouhani arguing the country's sanctions-battered economy cannot afford to be shut down for an extended period.
These include more than half of the country's cities and towns, according to the task force, with Tehran and all other provincial capitals affected by the measures. The task force said more than 53 million of Iran's over 80-million-strong population would be affected by the measures. "We call on all citizens to adhere to all the rules, in order to reduce the economic pressure imposed today on businesses as quickly as possible," Rouhani said Saturday.Iran is the worst-hit country in the Middle East, and its virus death toll has passed 400 a day since the start of November.