BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 2
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
Traffic on the roads has decreased by 64 percent over the past 18 days in Iran, said Deputy Chief of the NAJA Road Police Ayub Sharafati, Trend reports citing Young Journalist Club (YJC).
According to Sharafati, traffic decreased in Iran's Gilan, Mazandaran, Razavi Khorasan, Isfahan and Qom provinces.
Sharafati added that traffic was reduced by 81 percent in the past day.
"About 9,500 drivers who violated traffic restrictions have been fined in Iran as of March 27," he said.
Sharafati said that drivers violating the rules are fined 5 million rials (about $119) and the car is commandeered for a month. So far, about 177,000 cars have been stopped from leaving the city.
A number of restrictive measures have been taken over the past 10 days in efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus in Iran.
Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 47,500 people have been infected, 3,036 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 15,400 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the 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.