Just like in the past few days, obvious on graphs, today the numbers of infected and deaths decreased. In the past 24 hours, 1,634 new cases were confirmed and 117 died of the disease. According to Ministry of Health, there have been 231,393 tests done in 50 days from the “official” announcement of the first case. The government, especially the president, keeps insisting on the fact that the disease is controlled so everything should go back to normal from Saturday, April 11 (except in Tehran from April 18). However, there are reports of red situation in Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Mazandaran, East Azerbaijan and worse of all Tehran. Iran International reports about staggering numbers and the reason of this decision by the president!
Total: 66,220
Dead: 4,110
Healed: 32,309
Critical: 3,918
According to Iran International, a resourceful London based Persian news agency, Supreme National Security Council had a meeting on Tuesday in which Rouhani has said it’s impossible to close the country because then “we would face 30million hungry protesters on the streets, which cannot be controlled.” He continued, “Even if 2-2.5million people lose their lives due to COVID-19, we are not able to close shops because of the economy situation.” In the same meeting, the number of deaths was reported about 18,000 and more than 4,000 patients are in critical condition.
Rouhani has also opposed the idea of closing the schools and universities for this school year! However, most student associations have issued statements saying they would not go to school if they’re reopened. There are reports that head of school districts intend to announce gradual closing of schools so Rouhani can’t oppose it.
While Rouhani’s statements show the country’s dire situation, falsified numbers, and the daily show the government puts on, the polls, all experts including government officials and parliament representatives are opposite of the Rounani’s decision to have the restrictions loosen. In the most recent polls, nearly 75% of Tehran residents agree to continue “stay-at-home”.
Khamenei read another speech from his notes which was aired on TV in celebration of “12th Shia Imam’s birthday”, the Shia’s Messiah. He repeated his usual paranoid nonsense and nothing new. Not that anybody cares what he says! In a part of his speech about Coronavirus, he blundered the number of deaths in the world, saying, “There are more than 1million dead in the world.” The video circulating on social media forced him to issue the first ever correction video from him. He didn’t mention anything about how many Iranians have lost their lives in this disaster.
However, he didn’t correct the part where he said there have been 10million casualties in both world wars, when in fact more than 50million were killed in WWII alone. His gaffes and the correction video have brought on the conspiracy theories that this is not Khamenei but his doppelganger.
Zali, the head of Corona Combat Committee in Tehran says in 5-14 days after people going back to normal, there would be another peak and more people would be infected and dead. He said the average age of dead patients in Tehran is 69.2. He also warned that Tehran is a hot spot for COVID-19, very different and should not be compared with any other place in the country.
All this show is a totalitarian regime arriving at a crossroad! It has to choose whether to kill or be killed. But it looks like both lead to the same destination: Regime’s demise. Choosing one or the other may just give it a little more time!
Cover: Reuters