Coronavirus Response Command Headquarters: Work is beyond quarantine

People are being urged to stay home and avoid social gatherings, but the army wants to hold a biological defense drill. Rouhani said no province has the right to decide on quarantine and business closures, but Khuzestan was quarantined.

The head of the coronavirus response headquarters in Tehran says that the work is over and quarantine is no longer effective. He called on artists to use their influence to scare people about coronavirus. Alireza Zali warned that some officials and citizens have not taken the current epidemic seriously and that the government's intervention in this regard has been delayed and accompanied by compliments.

Zali acknowledged that the dense presence of people on the streets and the lack of change in their rhythm of life is due to the failure to properly communicate policies to citizens.

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, told ISNA news agency that people are gradually taking the coronavirus seriously, but to reduce their presence on the streets, offices, such as schools and universities, should be closed. Referring to the Chinese model, Sadeghi said that quarantine may prevent people from being present in society.

The commander of the headquarters to combat the coronavirus, however, says that it is no longer necessary to completely quarantine the city: "Because many cities and provinces are involved, and if it is done, it will have no effect." In a meeting with a group of artists, he asked them to create sensitivity among the people and scare them about the coronavirus: "Today is the day that we ask you to come to our aid to save even one person's life... In fact, we are seeking to create sensitivity among the people and scare them through your initiative and art so that we can keep people in their homes."

Mohsen Hashemi, the head of Tehran City Council, has previously criticized the indecision in quarantining the capital.

On Sunday, March 15, Hassan Rouhani categorically rejected the idea of ​​quarantining cities, saying: "We do not have anything called quarantine, neither today nor during Eid..." He emphasized that no governor or province has the right to make decisions in this regard.

In parallel with these remarks, the governor of Khuzestan announced a ban on all passenger vehicles entering and leaving the region and announced the closure of all businesses except supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries, butchers, and fruit stores. He emphasized that all hypermarkets, gathering centers, and passenger terminals will remain closed.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Iranian army has ordered a "biological defense drill," while Health Ministry officials have rejected the connection between the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and a biological attack.

Iran's Ministry of Health says 724 people have died from the coronavirus as of Sunday afternoon, March 15, including 114 in the past 24 hours. However, independent media and eyewitnesses, citing field evidence and contradictory data from the Ministry of Health and medical universities, believe this figure is about a third of the real figure.

Rouhani reiterates that the quarantine of cities, especially Tehran, is ruled out, while the head of the capital's Crisis Prevention and Management Organization announces that coronavirus patients will soon be transferred to special shelters. Reza Mohammadi Karami said that a three-month crisis is coming and the municipality, army, and military organizations will participate in providing special shelters. These shelters or convalescent homes are supposed to be set up to stop the chain of the spread of coronavirus and will be a kind of quarantine or isolation stations.

The coronavirus pandemic in Iran, the crisis of citizen mortality, the economic shock, and the agitation of the agencies to contain the chaos caused by the shortage of health supplies, hospital beds, and diagnostic kits, while the Leader of the Islamic Republic said in his initial stances that the issue should not be exaggerated. Three days after the official announcement of the first case of the virus in Qom, he attributed the issue to influencing the parliamentary elections.

Source: DW