Iran gets back to business, but remains watchful

Series of aid consignments received from China 

Editor's Note: Nations are collaborating in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak to limit the damage to people's health and the impact on the global economy. Here, in the seventh part of a series titled "One World, One Fight", we look at how countries can work together.

After a brief nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, most Iranians, including those in the capital Teheran, are now allowed to leave their homes for shopping and work.

Low-risk businesses, including many shops and factories, have resumed operations. Shopping malls and bazaars have reopened, along with parks, gardens and recreational areas, which people can visit as long as social distancing is observed.

Many government offices are also back in business, but occupied by only two-thirds of the staff members to reduce crowding, while a ban on intercity travel has been lifted.

In Qom, a city of 1.2 million people situated 140 kilometers south of Teheran, which was the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Iran, some 24,000 businesses have welcomed the return of customers.

One bookseller in the city said, "We have disinfected the shop and are providing gloves for customers."

On April 18, when low-risk businesses in Teheran began to reopen, the number of new deaths from COVID-19 in Iran fell to a record low.

The first two confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Iran on Feb 19. Later that day, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education said both patients had died in Qom.

In the following days, more people tested positive for COVID-19－many of them either from Qom or with links to the city, the country's seventh-largest.