Iran’s Civil Registration Organization: We Will Not Release Winter 1398 Mortality Statistics

A spokesperson for Iran’s Civil Registration Organization says the organization will not announce winter 1398 mortality statistics at the request of the National Coronavirus Taskforce.

Seyfolah Abutorabi emphasized on Tuesday, Ordibehesht 16, in an interview with ILNA news agency that these statistics should normally be announced “by the end of Farvardin or Ordibehesht.”

Shargh newspaper reported on Ordibehesht 10 that the Civil Registration Organization had not released winter mortality statistics and the organization’s website was also inactive.

Mohammad Bagherzadeh, a reporter for Shargh newspaper, wrote in a tweet on the fourth of Ordibehesht that he had been asking the Civil Registration Organization for about two weeks to provide mortality statistics “broken down by age and province” to the newspaper, but officials said they “do not have the authority to publish” it.

The issue of mortality statistics in the last three months of the year came into focus when Mohammad Javad Haghshenas, a Tehran City Council member, said that 13,000 people were buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in Esfand 1398 and Farvardin of this year.

He added that by comparing the number of deaths in the current year and the same period of the previous year, one can arrive at the statistics of those who died from coronavirus.

Nahid Khodakarmeh, another Tehran City Council member, also said on Farvardin 27 that between 70 to over 100 deceased coronavirus patients are buried daily in this city.

Based on the estimates announced by this city council member, it appears that from Esfand of last year until Farvardin 27, between 4,000 to 5,600 patients suspected of coronavirus died only in Tehran.

Source: Radio Farda