Iran has reported 200 coronavirus deaths in a single day for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, a health ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Over the same period, the country reported 2,600 new infections, driving the total number of cases to 245,688, with 11,931 deaths.

The Health Minister, Saeed Namaki, who likened the virus to a “bomb”, said “If we continue like this, we will be knocked out.”

Namaki said many Iranians had abandoned the COVID-19 hygiene rules, noting that in spite of the ministry’s efforts toward educating the people on safety
measures, the country suffered severe setback “and is confronted with new wave of infections.”

After an initial decrease in case numbers in mid-May, Iran loosened measures to prevent the spread of the virus and opened up the economy, which experts suspected was the cause of the dramatic increase in infections as people did not take the hygiene rules seriously.

Meanwhile, wearing a mask in public places became mandatory this week, though many Iranians were not complying with the rule.