Iran has seen a serious surge in the number of new coronavirus cases in the last couple of weeks. Responding to the Covid spike, on Tuesday, the Iranian government implemented stricter lockdown restrictions in several cities. The Covid-19 status of the capital city Tehran has been increased to red.

As per the latest statistics provided by the authorities, in the last 24 hours, 22,478 new COVID-19 cases were detected in Iran. It's the second highest-ever one-day rise in the country's pandemic history. It must be noted that the highest-ever tally was recorded a day earlier. This fact tells us about the gravity of the situation in the country.

• The total Covid-19 cases have reached 2,029,412 as Iran became the 15th nation to report over 2 million cases. Out of these,  1,693,005 people have fully recovered. 

The reported fatalities due to coronavirus-related reasons have also been rising. With 155 casualties reported just in the past 24 hours, total deaths have reached 64,039. There are at least 272,368 active cases present in the country, out of which 4,278 are in critical conditions. A total of 13,494,296 tests have been conducted so far.

The Iranian Ministry of Health announced that due to an alarming rise in the reported coronavirus cases in several regions of the country, the Covid status of these regions is increased. In addition to Tehran, the Covid status of 40 other cities was increased to red on April 6th.

The Iranian government has divided the country into blue, yellow, orange, and red zones depending on the COVID-19 fatality rate and extent of the virus outbreak, with blue being the lowest threat. In red cities, only essential services such as food providers and medical centers are allowed to open. Travel in and out of these cities is banned.

In orange and yellow cities, most shopping malls are open, and employees in government workplaces can operate with reduced capacity. Educational institutions and places of worship, however, remain closed. According to the government sources, as of Tuesday, there are 88 red cities, 139 orange cities, 198 yellow cities, and 23 blue cities. The situation is getting out of control in the country due to which the government has urged the public to strictly follow the Covid SOPs put in place to flatten the coronavirus curve as early as possible.