TEHRAN, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday announced the extension of restrictive measures to most Iranian cities as the COVID-19 epidemic has been continuing to spread across the country, official IRNA news agency reported.

File photo: CFP

On Oct. 3, the Iranian health authorities imposed shut-down of major educational and cultural activities in capital Tehran after a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. They also reintroduced strict compulsory use of face masks and asked people to avoid unnecessary outings.

The limitations would be extended to 71 cities until Nov. 14, said Rouhani, during a meeting of the national headquarters for managing and fighting the coronavirus.

Rouhani noted that the health ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, will carry out a plan to detect the patients and to analyze data as per the spread of disease.

He urged for public contribution to the implementation of health protocols and mandates by the health authorities in dealing with the pandemic.

Masoud Mardani, a member of national coronavirus taskforce, said that protective measures in high-risk areas in Iran are expected to produce positive results within the next few weeks, Financial Tribune daily reported on Saturday.

"We are expecting to witness a drop in hospital visits within two weeks and a drop in the death rate in three to four weeks," Mardani was quoted as saying.

Iran announced a total infection of 612,772 people with the novel coronavirus as of Saturday, of whom 34,846 have died.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said Saturday that currently the risk of infection is high in 27, out of the 31 Iranian provinces. Enditem