Coronavirus Spreads Across Iran While Regime Maintains Secrecy

Iran: Coronavirus spreads across the Country

Contradictory news by the Iranian regime’s state media of the coronavirus spreading in Iran confirms the regime’s criminal secrecy. The news from Iran confirms that the regime was aware of the coronavirus’ spread three weeks ago and that the first victim was in the city of Qom.

On February 10, Hassan Rouhani’s government, in a declaration to the ministry of health, had demanded a general alert. In this regard, in an interview with the state-run ISNA news agency on February 24, Dr. Mehdi Shafii, Head of Department of Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases of Kerman University of Medical Sciences said: “From February 10, The government, in a statement to the Ministry of Health, called for all infrastructures in the provinces to be prepared for possible fight against the virus.” He continued: “Numerous meetings were held with the Kerman governorate and relevant agencies in Kerman province.”

For days, state-run media have published news that some medical and health centers call for the closure of pilgrimage and cultural centers such as the Hazrat- Masoume’s shrine in the city of Qom, Imam Reza’s shrine in Mashhad and Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine in Tehran. But the operators of these centers have officially rejected the closure of these centers, so they could continue their plundering.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and other regime’s oppressive forces have canceled their ceremonies and programs to keep their forces safe. There have been vast controlling measures taken at the military and security sites to prevent the spread of the virus, such as distributing free masks and disinfectants.

THE DIMENSIONS AND EXTENT OF THE DISASTER

The extent of the coronavirus spread in Iran is much more than that reflected in the news. The facts below, which are confessions by the regime’s officials, confirm this matter:

Deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi, in an exclusive interview with the state-run TV Channel Two claimed that there are 916 suspected coronavirus cases, 61 positive tests, and 12 deaths. “Fortunately, some provinces, such as Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Ardebil, Azarbaijan and the southern parts of the country are clean,” he added. He claimed this, while the regime’s media have published statistics of the infected people from these provinces.

1. The state-run Didar News: Ali Akbar Velayati, the head of the Masih Daneshvari Hospital: “The number of patients suspected of having coronavirus in our Hospital is 104.”
2. The state-run Rokna news agency: Mohammad Tavakoli, representative of the Minister of Health of Iran: “There are 320 patients suspected of having coronavirus are hospitalized at Kamkar and Forghani hospitals in Qom.”
3. The state-run Moj news agency: Mohammad Mehdi Gooya, head of Disease Management Center of the Ministry of Health, said: “Since last Monday, there have been 1700 tests in 5 virology laboratories including Masih Daneshvari hospital.”
4. The state-run Nameh News — Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, member of parliament from Qom, while mentioning that 10 people die in Qom daily, said: “Around 50 people have died until last night due to the COVID-19. The Minister of Health is a culprit in this case. None of the nurses have the appropriate suits, known as space clothing.”
5. Mostafa Hadizadeh, Secretary of the Coordination Council of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters of Tehran, while referring to the measures taken to quarantine drug addicts in Tehran province said: “Since Friday, 10,000 drug addicts have been quarantined at the addiction treatment centers in Tehran province; and in the next few days, admission and discharge of addicts will not happen.”
6. The state-run Shafaghna news agency — Dr. Seyed Mohammad Hussain Bahraini, head of the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences: “The presence of three Chinese seminary students in Qom is the reason for the high number of coronavirus deaths in Iran.”

A brief assessment: The coronavirus, has spread to at least 19 Iranian cities, over 3181 people are infected, and 56 people have lost their lives in Iran.

Originally published at http://freedomstarblog.wordpress.com on February 27, 2020.