In cities with white, low risk conditions, mosques to reopen, Friday prayers to be held

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran's president said, "According to reports, 83% of the country's people have observed health protocols well, which shows the people's cooperation with officials, and we are seeing a decrease in visits to hospitals and medical centres, which is due to the good performance of medical staff."

Speaking on Sunday in the meeting of the National Task Force for Fighting Coronavirus, Dr Hassan Rouhani appreciated the efforts made during this period to fight coronavirus and also the measures taken to meet the basic and essential needs of the people, adding, "Due to the unknown nature of coronavirus, we must be prepared in every way to deal with possible adverse conditions in the future".

Parts of Dr Rouhani's speech is as follows:

In the name of God

I wish success for all dear and honorable people and all Muslims in this blessed and holy month, month of fasting, uprising, month of Quran and prayer, and I hope that with good prayers, people will be able to get rid of the virus.

First of all, I would like to thank the dear and honorable people for their support and cooperation. Today, the ministry of health announced at the meeting that on average, 83 per cent of people have heeded the health protocols, which has increased to 92 per cent in some cities.

Tehran is a big city, but the average 83% of people have heeded the protocols which indicates people's cooperation with the country's health officials and people's attention the health of the society, and this is very important for us.

At the same time, I would like to thank all those who are engaged in charity during this month of Ramadan. In this spiritual atmosphere, people think of each other and do not forget each other.

During the time that a month and a half has passed since we started, the medical staff worked hard with all their might and they have done and are doing great work and sacrifice.

Statistics released today at the meeting show that the number of visits to the hospital for hospitalisation during the last night was very low, a few hundred about 300 people, and this number is much lower than the previous days and weeks; this is a sign of people's cooperation.

Things were done in the country and in other countries in some way, but what was done in Iran, and I think it was much more obvious, was screening. At the same meeting, it was announced that 78 million people would be screened for the first time in the screening plan.

This is an important issue. In this country, with this vastness and greatness, of course, this is also due to the existence of health centres throughout the country and the existence of electronic records that has already been formed.

On the other hand, during this time, the country's knowledge-based companies and producers all worked to help with the health sector.

More than 400 special care beds have been added, which means that medical staff and manufacturers have done a great job and are meeting the needs.

I would like to tell the dear and honorable people of Iran that the end of coronavirys is not yet clear, how many weeks, months and days it will take, and it is still not clear exactly which drug is treating this disease. Many people are trying, major universities and scientific centres to get this vaccine as soon as possible.

A drug may be discovered, but again, because it is not clear to anyone, we must prepare ourselves for bad conditions.

Two months ago, we decided that the armed forces would equip their mobile hospitals and establish centres in some places. We did this out of pessimism and said that the wave and peak of this disease may be have not been arrived yet.

4,000 hospital beds, many of which were not used and were not needed, but this readiness, spirit and support. It is a state of readiness and calmness that makes people calm.

We still have to prepare ourselves for a possible hard day, while we are now slowly reopening some places, and today we decided to call the 132 cities that have white conditions low-risk cities instead of white. In those low-risk or white cities mosques will start tomorrow, and on Friday, their Friday prayers will begin.

Also, some of the banned businesses, even in the red zone, will be reopened to some extent, such as hairdressers and some sports centres.

From today, we have to think about that peak, both in terms of equipment and facilities, and in terms of food and basic goods. If these two are ready in our country, our people are not worried.

We made good decisions and everyone helped as much as they could; at one time I was worried about the bipolarity of society and thank God there was no bipolarity; once we were worried about the bipolarity of science and religion that someone would say science says don't go there and gather but religion says go and gather.

Our clerics and seminaries immediately stepped in and did not allow this bipolarity to be created; the bipolarity between religion and science between religion and expertise, between spirituality and scientific and material principles; this bipolarism could be a very bad thing that did not happen.

This was done well; both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior, all organs, the armed forces, all the people and all the political factions; no one allowed this bipolarity to take place; this is one of the great achievements of our country.

Now you see in the United States that bipolarity is happening, where some say public places must be reopened and some disagree.

Coronavirus is a story that has changed the whole world. One of the wonders of this is that a hidden little creature can change everything; post-corona politics is not like pre-corona, and it will definitely change.

Exports and imports around the world are not the same as before the corona; post-corona investment is not the same as before the corona; these are changing.

No country gave masks to another when it needed a mask, no country gave ventilators to their neighbour until they needed it, no country gave its bed to its neighbour, and we even saw that the European Union members were side by side but each was thinking about itself, nationalism was strengthened again, the unions were weakened, and global policies were weakened.

If there was a day when the US sanctions were condemned with soft language, today they condemn the US sanctions with a strong language all over the world, calling it a wrong inhumane thing to do in this situation; then everything has changed, the economy has changed.

Praise be to God, the country has started very well and I really have to thank all the manufacturing companies in the country, dear workers, craftsmen and entrepreneurs. What is being done in cyberspace now is huge. This corona has created a thousand problems for the country, but in some places it has now become a locomotive for this e-government and it is moving forward quickly to make the e-government be implemented quickly.

Thank God, in our country we do not care whether a patient is Iranian or non-Iranian, we do not care about their religion, we do not care about which tribe and city he belongs to; At the same time, it was said that in the United States, there is a difference between blacks and whites, between those who are native and those who came to the United States from other.

It's so important. This justice and this situation that we have in the country, shows the morality and that position of faith and humanity.

There was some discussion at the meeting, and I was a little worried about whether we could do well. First of all, we have delayed the time, that is, we have said that instead of the twentieth, they will delay the time, and we will leave the twenty-seventh, and at this time we will study again.

In reopening schools, the Ministries of Health and Medical Education, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior must study and pay attention to this issue together.

The last point I want to emphasise here, and I think it's important, is that we need three things in this situation: patience, education, and hope.

It is a day when we have to help some people in livelihood and some people in production. See how much those countries whose economies were one-dimensional were affected, how much those who relied only on oil were affected, and those who relied only on tourism, whose entire economy was shut down.

The good thing about our country is that we are not one-dimensional and we have different dimensions. Now one dimension gets into trouble, we increase the other dimension.

First we need patience and we should not be impatient. It's hard to stay home and shut down fun and travel, so we have to be patient here, and at the same time, everyone has to do their job.

The second is education, and all people should be educated in this situation. The important thing is not to touch your face; practice, this is piety; one of the examples of piety is that you don't raise your hand. It is important for us to educate people about these things.

The third point is hope; we must have full hope for the future; yes, we have a problem and we have to endure it, but hope for our future will help us.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings

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