10:19 EDT, 8 April 2021
Despite a Covid caseload now totalling more than two million, Iran has avoided imposing a full lockdown on its 82 million people, instead resorting to piecemeal measures, such as temporary travel bans and business closures
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Iran passed the two-million mark Thursday, while the daily caseload set a new record high in what a health official warned amounted to a "meteoric" spike.
As the Islamic republic reached the grim milestone, some health experts called for a lockdown of the capital Tehran to contain the country's fourth Covid-19 wave.
Iran is battling the Middle East's deadliest coronavirus outbreak, and officials have blamed the latest surge on trips made during last month's Persian New Year holidays.