Official COVID-19 Death Toll in Iran Moving Toward 10,000

Sima Sadat Lari, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Health, announced the deaths of 116 coronavirus patients in the past 24 hours.

According to IRNA, she presented the official daily statistics on coronavirus in Iran on Sunday, June 21st, stating that with this addition, the total number of victims from coronavirus in Iran has reached 9,623 people.

According to Ms. Sadat Lari, in the past twenty-four hours, 2,368 new patients were identified and the total number of coronavirus patients reached 204,952 people.

The Ministry of Health’s official statistics have repeatedly been questioned by some members of parliament and members of Tehran City Council, who have stated that the actual death toll in Iran is higher.

The Ministry of Health spokesperson also said 2,887 coronavirus patients are in critical condition and are under special care.

He declared the status of Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Kermanshah and East Azerbaijan provinces as critical.

Iran’s Ministry of Health officials do not routinely provide detailed and specific breakdowns of patient statistics in different provinces.

Health Minister: We Must Live With Coronavirus for at Least Two Years

Saeid Namaki, Iran’s Health Minister, emphasizing that no province has yet “fully experienced the first wave of coronavirus,” said “We must live with coronavirus for at least two years.”

According to IRNA, speaking on Sunday, June 21st in an online session, he compared the coronavirus to “a camel, cow and leopard” that, according to him, “can bite and kick and gore.”

He also said that more than 87 percent of COVID-19 patients suffered from obesity, diabetes and underlying diseases.

According to Iran’s Health Minister, “12.6 percent of people” who died from coronavirus “had no underlying diseases.”

Increase in COVID-19 Patient Visits in Tehran

Alireza Zali, head of the coronavirus control taskforce in Tehran, announced an increase in coronavirus patients seeking treatment in the capital and said: “In the past two weeks, the graph of the number of visitors, hospitalized individuals and mortality rates is changing.”

According to Mehr News Agency, Mr. Zali, speaking on June 21st at a meeting of managers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, warned of the pressure of a “new wave of coronavirus patients” on the health care system.

He also called for more precise planning to “deal with a possible second wave of coronavirus.”

In recent days, officials from the Ministry of Health and the National Coronavirus Taskforce have used different terms regarding the spread of coronavirus.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani considers the use of the term “second wave of coronavirus” incorrect and says the first wave of coronavirus is spreading to different provinces of Iran, but some Ministry of Health officials use the term “second wave of coronavirus.”

Source: Radio Farda