Ministry of Health Denies Two-Week Closure Announcement; Tehran Governor Opposes Capital Quarantine
Amid conflicting reports about Iran’s Ministry of Health’s request for an immediate two-week nationwide closure and denial of this request, Tehran’s governor says the issue of a two-week quarantine in the province is “moot.”
Anushiravan Mohseni Bandpei said on Wednesday, April 7, during a session of Tehran Province’s administrative council that “it is certainly impossible to quarantine a city like Tehran, which is the country’s capital and where international activities are being conducted.”
According to him, however, by implementing the guidelines of the National Corona Headquarters for two weeks, “in practice, Tehran is closed.”
His remarks come as the Ministry of Health reported on the Mask system, referring to the red status of 257 cities in Iran, that “a two-week closure of the entire country is necessary, otherwise there is a possibility of increasing daily death toll.”
This ministry, citing the rapidly increasing rate of coronavirus patients being hospitalized in medical centers, in addition to immediate and complete two-week nationwide closure, emphasized the necessity of “complete travel ban, closure of all restaurants and hotel dining facilities, serious restriction on evening traffic, and heavy penalties for any ceremonies or gatherings across the country.”
However, shortly after, Mehr news agency, citing the Ministry of Health, denied the issuance of this circular.
The lack of coordination in the Ministry of Health and the dissemination of conflicting news by this ministry occurs as, according to the latest announcement by the Ministry of Health, 174 more people died from coronavirus in Iran in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday, and during the same period, 17,430 new coronavirus patients were identified in the country.
Iranian Ministry of Health officials, as they refrain from providing detailed statistics, have not announced what portion of the victims and patients in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday noon belonged to Tehran.
The accuracy of government statistics on coronavirus in Iran is questioned by independent sources, and Iran’s Medical System Organization considers the death toll to be at least three times the official figures.
Source: Radio Farda
