BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 27
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Tourism will develop in Iran during the Nowruz holiday next year, following the general COVID-19 vaccination and health protocols, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, Trend reports citing the Iranian President Office’s official website.
He made the remark in an event dedicated to the operation of facilities in Iran’s cultural heritage and tourism sectors on May 27.
According to the president, great work has been done in Iran in the fields of culture, tourism and handicrafts during the activity of the current Iranian government. So, 2,720 Iranian historical (antique) artifacts, which had been in other countries for many years, were returned to the country.
Rouhani added that the tourism sector is an economically large sector.
"It is not a exhaustible sector, such as the oil sector. Tourism and cultural heritage sectors are always lucrative. There are currently many historical and attractive places in the villages of Iran,” he said.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from Iranian officials, over 2.87 million people have been infected, and 79,384 people have already died.
Meanwhile, over 2.39 million people have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
A total of 3.49 million people have been vaccinated in Iran so far. About 3 million people were vaccinated on the first stage, and 493,000 people were vaccinated on the second stage.