Khamenei Defends Coronavirus Information Reporting | Parliament Vice Speaker: We’ve Taken Coronavirus Lightly!
While some members of parliament have questioned the statistics on coronavirus cases and deaths resulting from it in Iran, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has described information reporting about the coronavirus in Iran as “honest and transparent.”
Masoud Pezeshkian, Vice Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and Iran’s former health minister, said on Tuesday, March 3, that he does not believe the statistics on coronavirus cases in Iran are accurate, saying the number of infected people is far greater than what the Ministry of Health announces.
He stated that the coronavirus in Iran has been taken lightly, saying that the city of Qom should have been quarantined from the very first day.
The Vice Speaker, in explaining the unrealistic nature of the statistics, said that hospitals have no accurate counts at all because not everyone suspected of infection has been tested. For example, the families of infected individuals have not been examined, therefore the number of infected is certainly far greater than the announced figure.
Previously, the representative of Rasht in parliament described the death toll statistics released by the Ministry of Health as “something like a joke” and characterized the situation in Gilan as dire.
Gholamali Jafarzadeh, the representative of Rasht, said in parliament on Sunday that due to the shortage of test kits and delayed diagnosis of coronavirus cases, no one has accurate information about the precise number of those affected and those who have died from this disease. However, based on evidence, indications, and information we have received, the number of those affected and who have died from this disease is greater than the announced figure.
He also criticized “the positions taken by officials,” saying that these positions “caused people not to treat the matter seriously either, and even some of them traveled, with approximately 700,000 people traveling to Gilan over the past few days.”
This parliament member criticized the lack of adequate facilities in hospitals in Gilan province and said that at Razi Hospital, which was considered the main center for receiving coronavirus patients in Gilan, it has been announced that due to capacity being reached, they cannot accept new patients.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on Tuesday described the information reporting by officials of the Islamic Republic about the coronavirus in Iran as honest and transparent, saying that some other countries where the disease is more severe are engaged in cover-ups.
This comes while many believe that information reporting about coronavirus infection in Iran was delayed due to its coincidence with the parliamentary elections, and therefore, infection spread rapidly.
Mike Pompeo on Friday, February 28, in a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, given the track record of cover-ups by Islamic Republic officials, said that the Iranian regime does not want to report on the spread of the coronavirus and he is concerned that they have hidden important information.
This is the second time the US Secretary of State has expressed concern about possible cover-ups by Iranian officials. Mike Pompeo had warned last week that America was concerned about cover-ups by Islamic Republic officials regarding the spread of coronavirus.
The United States announced on Thursday that it had issued waivers from Iran sanctions and allowed the Central Bank of Iran to conduct financial transfers for sending certain humanitarian services.
Source: Voice of America
