A wedding party contributed to a new surge in coronavirus infections in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said but insisted that the country had no option but to keep its economy open despite warnings of a second wave of the epidemic.

“At one location, we witnessed a peak in this epidemic, the source of which was a wedding that caused problems for the people, health workers and losses to the economy and the country’s health system,” Rouhani said on state TV.

According to Reuters, Iran has been gradually relaxing its lockdown since mid-April but has reported a sharp rise of new daily infections in recent days.