Coronavirus Deaths in Iran Are “3 to 4 Times Higher” Than Official Statistics
The number of new coronavirus cases in Iran has set another record, but the official death toll has slightly decreased compared to previous days. An expert says the actual number of victims is up to 4 times higher than official figures, and coronavirus management requires fundamental review.
Over the past few weeks, the number of people infected with COVID-19 and its victims in Iran has shown an increasing trend with minor fluctuations, and criticism of the ineffectiveness of policies and measures to contain it has intensified.
Official authorities cite non-compliance with health guidelines by citizens as the main reason for the increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths. At the same time, many experts believe that public distrust of government officials and lack of transparency in the solutions adopted to manage coronavirus are contributing factors to this negligence.
Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday, the fourth of Aban, quoting a member of the Supreme Board of Medical Sciences: “Failure to provide clear and accurate information about the current situation of this disease in the country and merely announcing red or yellow zones in cities is a dangerous and irreparable mistake and one of the important reasons for the increase in cases and deaths.”
New Record for Number of Cases
Hossein Qashlaqchi says “weak management and failure to properly use conventional and recognized scientific methods” and insufficient coordination among different branches of governance are among the other factors in the uncontrolled spread and rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Iran.
The Health Ministry spokesman announced on the fourth of Aban that 6,191 new cases of coronavirus were identified in Iran in the past 24 hours and 296 people infected with COVID-19 died.
This is the highest number of identified cases in a single day since the official confirmation of the coronavirus outbreak. In the four days since the beginning of Aban month, the record for the highest number of cases has been broken again.
According to Sima Sadat Lari, in the past 24 hours, more than 2,000 newly identified patients were hospitalized, and currently about 5,000 people are in a “severe” condition from the disease.
Actual Number of Victims Up to Four Times Higher
About two weeks ago, Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Minister of Health, said the actual number of coronavirus victims in Iran is approximately twice the official figures, because these figures only include those who tested positive for coronavirus before their death.
Masoud Mardani, a member of the Scientific Committee of the National Coronavirus Taskforce, said a week ago that the number of victims is two and a half times the official figures, and Hossein Qashlaqchi now puts this figure at three to four times the official count.
Stark Differences and Low Number of Tests
With this calculation, due to the small number of diagnostic tests in Iran, the number of those infected is not properly determined, and for this reason, the ratio of infection and death differs sharply with other countries.
In Germany, with a population roughly similar to Iran, about four times more coronavirus tests are conducted. In the past 24 hours, 11,176 new cases were identified in Germany and the number of deaths was 29.
Masoud Yunesian, a member of the scientific faculty of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, said last night in a television program that Iran’s ranking in terms of the number of coronavirus diagnostic tests per population is 113th and is much lower than the global average.
Mohammad Ismail Akbari, senior advisor to the Health Minister, said on Saturday: “The reason we [compared to some countries] detect fewer cases is because we conduct fewer tests, not because our situation is better. The evidence of this is that our death toll has increased.”
Need for Strategy Change
He says Iran’s strategy to combat COVID-19 has so far focused on treating patients, and the result of this approach is that healthcare workers are in difficult conditions and daily a large number of them “are either removed from the service cycle due to illness or death from complications.”
The Health Minister’s senior advisor believes this approach should be changed so that testing increases and cases are identified from villages to cities. He told “IrnaPlus”: “The screening system should do this with the help of the health network system. Now we have few personnel and have abandoned screening.”
Severe budget deficit, severe economic recession, mismanagement, and corruption are among the main reasons for Iran’s government officials’ failure to combat COVID-19.
President Hassan Rouhani announced at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that he approved the Health Ministry’s request for $150 million to purchase 30 million diagnostic kits so that coronavirus testing can be conducted faster and more widely after their procurement.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently announced that it has provided more than 182,000 diagnostic kits to Iran to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: DW
