A pandemic atlas: No longer in viral denial, Iran struggles

Mohammad Maleklee, 23, of the National Orchestra of Iran and Tehran Symphony, plays saxophone from his window, during mandatory self-isolation due to the new coronavirus disease outbreak, in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 photo. With performance halls closed, musicians find performance spaces wherever they can. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Worshippers wearing protective face masks offer Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a shrine to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Muslims worldwide celebrated one of their biggest holidays under the long shadow of the coronavirus, with millions confined to their homes and others gripped by economic concerns during what is usually a festive time of shopping and celebration. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A member of the Iranian army walks past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for coronavirus patients set up by the army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran, on March 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Women clerics wearing protective clothing and "chador," a head-to-toe garment, arrive at a cemetery to prepare the body of a person who died from COVID-19 for a funeral, in Ghaemshahr, Iran, on April 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People have lunch in a shopping center at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. As businesses re-open and people begin to move around more, health experts fear a growing complacency among Iran's 80 million people may further allow the virus to spread. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Medical workers pour tea for a patient infected with the new coronavirus at a hospital in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Mohammad Ghadamali)

A cemetery worker prepares the body of a man who died from COVID-19, in a morgue at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. The cemetery is struggling to keep up with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Iran, with double the usual number of bodies arriving each day and grave diggers excavating thousands of new plots. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mourners attend the funeral of a person who died from COVID-19 at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery just outside Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A pedestrian crosses an empty street in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, with a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at right. Due to the coronavirus and the COVID-19 illness it causes, life has changed dramatically on Tehran's main highways, in the narrow corridors of its historical Grand Bazaar and in the public spaces under portraits of its leaders. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People wearing protective face masks to help prevent spread of the coronavirus mourn during an annual ceremony commemorating Ashoura, the anniversary of the 7th century death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, who was killed in a battle in Karbala in present-day Iraq, at the Saleh shrine in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. Authorities allowed limited mourning rituals, urged social distancing and made wearing masks mandatory. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A cemetery worker prepares the body of a man who died from COVID-19, in a morgue at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. Mortuary attendants prepare each body for the ritual washing required for the Muslim dead. During the pandemic, that now includes the use of disinfectants. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A technician sprays disinfectant as mourners pray over the body of a person who died from COVID-19, at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. Behesht-e-Zahra, or "Zahra's Paradise" in Farsi, was named after a daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Volunteers wearing face masks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus sew new masks as a man plays guitar for them at the Hafez theater hall in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mourners carry the body of a person who died from COVID-19 at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. The cemetery is struggling to keep up with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Iran, with double the usual number of bodies arriving each day and grave diggers excavating thousands of new plots. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A cemetery worker prepares new graves at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. The cemetery is one of the world's largest with 1.6 million people buried on its grounds, stretching across more than five square kilometers (two square miles), but it is struggling to keep up with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People wearing protective clothing attend the funeral of a victim who died from the new coronavirus, at a cemetery in the outskirts of the city of Ghaemshahr in north of Iran, Friday, May 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A girl wearing a protective face mask to help prevent spread of the coronavirus holds her doll as she attends a mourning ceremony to commemorate the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, who was killed in a battle in Karbala in present-day Iraq, at the Tehran University Musalla, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. The organizers arranged for the processions to take place with physical distancing, made face masks mandatory, checked mourners' body temperature and had them use hand sanitizers in an attempt to keep the gathering safe. Every year, millions of believers and followers of Shiite Islam flock to mosques for the ritual but this year the virus pandemic has scaled it down. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The body of a person who died from COVID-19 is interred as mourners look on, at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A firefighter disinfects a mosque to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, March, 6, 2020. A Health Ministry spokesman warned authorities could use unspecified "force" to halt travel between major cities. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)