Iran has become one of the centers of the epidemic in Asia. However, the government is reluctant to provide information about the spread, thereby raising suspicions of covering up the true extent.
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Workers disinfect the metro in Tehran every day to prevent the spread of the corona virus in the metropolis.
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The Iranian leadership is doing everything possible these days to further undermine citizens’ trust in their information policy. When the first reports emerged about two weeks ago that patients were suffering from the coronavirus, official denials hailed. Just before the General election last Friday the government acknowledged the spread of the virus in Iran. In the meantime she has to confirm new illnesses and deaths every day.
So far, 19 Iranians have succumbed to the virus, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday. In addition, 139 people are infected with it. In order to prevent the spread of the infection, the universities, schools and cinemas remain closed in parts of the country, sporting events, concerts and conferences have been canceled. In Tehran, workers disinfect the metro trains and buses every day. The government has also called on citizens to stop traveling to the hardest hit regions. Quarantine entire cities or quarters, like China does or also Italy she doesn’t want to have done.
Instead, the leadership spread conspiracy theories, according to which the enemies of Tehran, especially the United States, want to spread panic among the Iranians. The disease should not become a “weapon” of the enemy to shut down Iran’s “work and production”, warned President Hassan Rohani after a meeting of the special committee to combat the virus. Such claims do not help reassure citizens, on the contrary. Many believe that the government is covering up the true extent of the infection. The appearance of Deputy Minister of Health Iraj Harirchi is symptomatic of this.
Investigations and arrests for “lies”
On Monday, the head of the special committee coughed in front of the cameras to deny the statements of a deputy who said at a parliamentary session In the central Iranian pilgrimage city of Qom, 50 people died of the coronavirus. Again and again Harirchi wiped the sweat from his forehead during the performance. On Tuesday, he then confessed in a video that he was also infected. He isolated himself and started taking medication, says Harirchi. But Iran will definitely defeat the virus in the next few weeks.
Abbas you should also publish the direct source: the victim himself. https://t.co/KniCOEsKrz
– Karol in Red (@Karol_en_Red) February 25, 2020
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In addition to Harirchi, at least one MP and several members of the Tehran city administration were infected. The public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the spread of “lies” against the Qom parliamentarian, who reported the 50 victims. In addition, 24 people were arrested in Tehran, who are said to have spread “rumors” online about the dangers of the virus.
International health experts fear, however, that Tehran’s policy of disc-wise information will help spread rather than contain the virus. In a preliminary study, Canadian scientists came to the conclusion that the number of diseases must be many times higher than that conceded by Tehran. Even in the best case, it would be 3770, it says in the report published on Tuesday.
Risky pilgrimages
The epicenter of the diseases is the city of Qom, the center of Shia scholarship and an important place of pilgrimage in Iran. How the virus got there is a matter of speculation. A representative from the Ministry of Health expressed the suspicion that workers from China had introduced the virus. Government officials claim that it came to Iran through neighboring countries. In any case, the virus has now spread from Qom not only to 19 of the 31 Iranian provinces, but across borders, especially in countries with a large Shiite population.
Qom is an important magnet for Shiite pilgrims and business people in the region. The small number of Gulf states of Bahrain registered the highest number of illnesses that can be traced back to such a trip with 26 people. In addition, people from Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates have been infected. Numerous countries have canceled their flights to and from Iran. Iran’s seven neighboring countries have largely closed their borders, including Iraq, whose health system is so poor that patients often travel to Iran for treatment.
How effective the closings are is controversial. Iran and Iraq not only maintain close political but also economic ties, with many goods being transported by truck. Apart from that, quite a few people make a living from smuggling at the borders. In addition, air travel is still possible. The Iranian airline Mahan Air, which is partly controlled by the powerful revolution guards, continued to offer flights from Tehran to the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and the two Kurdish cities of Erbil and Suleimaniya on Wednesday.
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