IRAN has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails.
The BBC reported that Gholamhossein Esmaili, the state Judiciary spokesman said inmates were granted furlough after testing negative for Covid-19 and posting bail.
“Security prisoners” sentenced to more than five years will not be let out.
Iran’s Covid-19 outbreak has killed at least 77 people in less than two weeks. On Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases in Iran rose by 50 per cent for the second day in a row and currently at 2,336, although the real figure is believed to far higher.
A number of senior Iranian officials have contracted the virus including Iraj Harirchi, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister and Pirhossein Kolivand, head of emergency medical services.
Meanwhile, health officials in Lagos State have quarantined a Chinese national shortly after he arrived in the country via an Ethiopian Airline plane.
Professor Akin Abayomi, the commissioner for Health in the state, disclosed this to reporters on Tuesday.
The Chinese citizen was accosted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport after he was made to go through the mandatory screening for those coming into the country.
Authorities revealed he has been moved to the Lagos State Isolation Centre where he tested positive to novel coronavirus.