Corona went from Iran to Austria and New Zealand
An Austrian newspaper reported that a member of the Austrian foreign minister's team may have contracted the coronavirus while traveling to Iran. New Zealand also announced that its first coronavirus case, currently in quarantine, had recently returned from Iran.
The Austrian newspaper "Kurier" writes that an Austrian diplomat who traveled to Tehran with the delegation accompanying Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has been quarantined at the Kaiser Franz Joseph Hospital in Vienna due to a possible infection with the coronavirus.
Schallenberg made an official visit to Tehran last week in an effort to save the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and met with several Iranian officials, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In addition, according to a report by France News Agency, New Zealand has also reported the first possible case of coronavirus in the country, which is a woman in her 60s who recently returned from Iran.
The woman, a New Zealand citizen, is now in quarantine and her family has been called to the hospital for tests.
The latest official statistics from Iranian authorities on coronavirus patients indicate 245 infected and 26 deaths.
Kianoush Jahanpour, head of public relations for the Iranian Ministry of Health, stressed in a tweet that the coronavirus infection rate “will continue to rise” in the coming days. He urged the Iranian people to avoid unnecessary travel and interactions and to maintain personal hygiene.
Meanwhile, the vice chancellor of Qom University of Medical Sciences has announced that Mohammad Reza Ghadir, the president of the university, his two vice presidents, as well as 10 doctors and nurses from Qom, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to ISNA, Ali Ebrazeh said: "If health issues are not properly observed in Qom, the need for our beds may reach two to three thousand. So far, 18 people have lost their lives in Qom due to this disease, all of whom were over the age of 55."
He called the capacity of Kamkar and Forghani hospitals in Qom "complete" and reminded: "If this disease reaches its peak in Qom, we will prepare a field hospital."
“Quarantine Qom is not the right cultural thing to do”
Ali Ebrazeh considered "home quarantine for one to two months during Nowruz" an "effective solution" to prevent the spread of the virus, and said about quarantining Qom: "This is not appropriate from a "cultural" perspective."
The World Health Organization has called the coronavirus outbreak in Iran alarming. Tedros Adhanom, the head of the World Health Organization, has warned that Iran has so far suffered the highest number of deaths from the disease outside China and may be facing a “worse” outbreak than has been reported so far.
Mike Ryan, the organization's director of health emergencies programs, made similar statements: "I don't think this has anything to do with clinical care, but more to do with surveillance."
Mohammad Ali Vakili, a member of the Presidium of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced on his personal Twitter page that 30 people in the parliament have been tested for COVID-19, and so far, four of them have been reported to be "corona positive."
Iranians have been advised to stay in their homes as much as possible. Regarding Nowruz trips, Fereydoun Mohammadi, head of the Central Headquarters for the Coordination of Travel Services, said: “The decision on whether or not Nowruz trips can be carried out will be up to the Ministry of Health.”
The new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, was first reported in China in December last year. Since then, more than 83,000 people have been infected with the disease worldwide, of which 78,824 are in China.
2,858 coronavirus patients have died worldwide so far, and 36,436 have recovered.
After China, South Korea is the country with the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Italy and Iran. Germany has reported 21 cases with no deaths so far. Iran has the highest death toll relative to the number of infections.
Source: DW
