Official Coronavirus Statistics in Iran: Number of Cases Exceeds 50,000

The spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Health on Thursday, April 3 (14 Farvardin), announced the latest official government statistics on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, and the health minister also announced the implementation of the “smart distancing” plan.

Kianosh Jahanpour, the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, said that in the past 24 hours, 124 patients with COVID-19 died and the total number of victims of the disease in the country reached 3,160 people.

Jahanpour added that from yesterday noon to today (14 Farvardin 1399), based on “the official criteria of the Ministry of Health,” 2,875 new COVID-19 cases were identified in Iran and the total number of identified cases reached 50,468.

The Ministry of Health’s spokesperson also said that in total, so far 16,711 patients have recovered or been discharged, while 3,956 people are currently in serious condition with this disease and mostly in intensive care units.

The statistics announced daily by the Ministry of Health of the Islamic Republic differ from the actual number of cases and deaths.

Based on statistics collected by Radio Farda from scattered statements by local officials and Ministry of Health sources, so far more than 70,000 people have been hospitalized or monitored due to having clinical symptoms of coronavirus in 31 Iranian provinces.

This statistic also shows that as of two days ago, at least 4,762 people in 31 Iranian provinces have died.

Radio Farda’s statistics on hospitalized or monitored individuals in Iranian provinces are based on statements by local health officials and reports published in Iranian news agencies.

This statistic takes into account people who had clinical symptoms.

Iranian officials are still unwilling to release statistics on deaths in Tehran and Qom provinces, which is likely due to the high mortality rate from coronavirus infection in these two provinces.

The Iranian Ministry of Health also does not announce statistics on people who have died from coronavirus in different provinces separately.

Officials of this ministry state that their statistics are based on final test results from individuals and they do not include people who had clinical symptoms in the past in their statistics. A number of Iranian parliament representatives have also announced that the statistics announced by the Ministry of Health are far below the actual figure.

On Thursday, Saeid Namaki, Iran’s health minister, also announced the screening of 67 million people and the referral of more than 19,000 people to hospitals.

The health minister said: “About 55 million of these people were screened by telephone and 12 million were also screened through the online screening system.”

The health minister also stated that “now we are in the stage of disease management and this does not mean containing the disease” and added that the “smart distancing” plan will be implemented soon.

Namaki said: “After the physical distancing that is being implemented until the 20th of Farvardin, we will implement a plan called smart distancing, which will allow merchants providing special services or scientific, cultural, and religious centers to operate according to protocols announced by our experts.”

The health minister did not provide further details about this plan.

Source: Radio Farda