Coronavirus in Iran; Death Toll Reaches 19,000
Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson announced that over the past 24 hours, 188 more people in Iran died from coronavirus infection, bringing the official death toll of the virus to the brink of 19,000.
Sima Lari said on Wednesday, August 13, on Iran’s state television news network, that the official death toll from coronavirus in Iran stood at 18,988.
According to her, during this period, 2,510 additional coronavirus patients were identified in Iran, and 1,089 of them were hospitalized in the country’s hospitals.
With the addition of these cases, the official number of coronavirus patients in Iran reached 333,699. Among them, 3,940 people are under intensive care in severe condition from this disease.
The daily announcement of coronavirus statistics in Iran by Health Ministry officials continues despite doubts about their accuracy.
Recently, Mohammad Reza Mahboubifar, a member of Iran’s National Coronavirus Task Force, told the Jahan-e Sanat newspaper that Iran’s Health Ministry statistics on the number of infected people and deaths caused by coronavirus are “one-twentieth of the real figures” and cannot be trusted.
Kianosh Jahanpour, head of the Health Ministry’s public relations center, shortly after the publication of this interview, which led to the closure of Jahan-e Sanat newspaper, called him “narrow-minded” in a tweet without mentioning Mahboubifar’s name.
Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson continued his remarks today, saying that Mazandaran, Tehran, Qom, Golestan, North Khorasan, Ardabil, Isfahan, Alborz, Razavi Khorasan, Kerman, Semnan, East Azerbaijan, Central Province, Yazd, and Gilan provinces are in red status.
According to him, Fars, Ilam, Lorestan, Hormozgan, Zanjan, Qazvin, West Azerbaijan, Bushehr, Hamadan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces are also in alert status.
The increase in the number of coronavirus patients in Iran continues as the head of Iran’s Supreme Medical Council announced that only “30 to 40 percent” of the country’s resources and capacities have been used to combat coronavirus so far.
According to Mehr News Agency, Mostafa Moin said on Wednesday, August 13, in an online press conference that “if I had responsibility, I would not allow either the university entrance exam or any celebrations or mourning ceremonies to be held.”
Mr. Moin predicted that in Shahrivar and the fall season, “we should expect extraordinary problems,” because “we will have mourning ceremonies during Muharram and travel following that, and we will have new waves.”
He warned that if Muharram ceremonies are held as in previous years, “we will face a dangerous peak of coronavirus infection and death.”
Source: Radio Farda
