Washington Post Report on Consequences of Iran Government’s Delay in Announcing Coronavirus Outbreak
According to the Washington Post, the Iranian government’s delay and slow response in informing the public about the coronavirus outbreak has faced criticism from healthcare sources, families of infected individuals, and activists.
The Washington Post, in a detailed article based on documents obtained by its journalists through reports from healthcare sources in Iran and survivors of the disease, states that the government was slow and delayed in warning the public.
The Washington Post quotes statements from a young architecture student hospitalized in a hospital who says the public awareness came too late and by that time many people had been infected with the virus.
According to global statistics, Iran has the worst coronavirus situation in the Middle East.
Government offices outside Tehran reopened today and businesses outside the capital have resumed operations, but it is expected that offices and businesses located in Tehran will begin reopening a week from now.
Voice of America had previously reported that the Islamic Republic’s method of information distribution and concealment, in which several government officials and high-level managers have also been infected with coronavirus, has faced considerable criticism both inside and outside the country. Government officials, who released news of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran with delay and only after the parliamentary elections, instead of quarantining cities and closing religious sites like other countries dealing with this virus outbreak, only said that coronavirus should be taken seriously and asked people not to leave their homes.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on Monday, Farvardin 4, issued a statement titled “Khamenei’s Lies About the Wuhan Virus Endanger People’s Lives” in which he made statements about the lies and concealment by the Iranian regime regarding the coronavirus.
The United States has repeatedly condemned mismanagement, systemic financial corruption, and plundering of Iran’s assets by affiliates of the ruling regime, and considered them among the main causes of Iran’s problems and the dire welfare situation of its people. Among other things, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said in several tweets about Islamic Republic officials that instead of helping people, they have been engaged in corruption.
Source: Voice of America
