Death rate breaks its own record, Coronavirus took the life of 54 people in the past 24 hours in Iran. 881 new cases were confirmed too. Tehran, Mazandaran and Qom are still at the top of provinces with most cases. These are all numbers announced by health ministry officials.
Total: 8042
Dead: 291
Healed: 2731
Contrary to all that, witnesses from Iran, including an official from National Corona Committee, Gilan and Mazandaran parliament representatives, and healthcare workers, all swear that these numbers are not even close to reality. In an article on The Atlantic, some epidemiologists were consulted and estimated the number of infected could be anywhere between 586,000 and 8,000,000 with an average of 2,000,000! (Persian translation of the article).
Iran International, a resourceful London based Persian news agency, reports there are total of 1283 deaths so far, 354 since yesterday. Isfahan (115) has joined the top provinces with most deaths, Tehran (283), Qom (278), Khorasan Razavi (193) and Gilan (182).
The government still refuses to quarantine the focal points of COVID-19 such as Tehran, Qom, Gilan, Mazandaran and Isfahan, but two small cities like Chabahar Harbor and Neyshabour announce their quarantine, while it’s not really a quarantine. They’re just putting up roadblocks and stop anybody from entering the city.
3 more doctors have died of the disease. So far, more than 10 healthcare worker have lost their lives to Coronavirus, all because the disease was hidden for so long by the government, and of course, shortage of proper protection gears and isolation. Today, the Supreme Leader agreed with Minister of Health to call them “martyr”, since they lost their lives on the line of duty.
Meanwhile, thousands of lives are in danger in regime’s prisons. Many reports have come out from prisons across the country, saying the health condition of many prisoners is horrifying and a few have died of the disease. Even 2 prison guards have lost their lives in the past 2 weeks, raising concerns that prisoners arein risk of contracting COVID-19. Political prisoners are on hunger strikes, under physical and psychological tortures making them extremely susceptible to the virus.
Some “low risk” prisoners have been given leave but apparently, in the eyes of Islamic Republic regime, political prisoners are not considered among them. There is fear of the fact that COVID-19 may be used by the government to silently kill its opposition, especially since most of them are not given leave and some have been transferred to “high risk” sections of prisons. Some have been sentenced to long prison terms and even death!
Javaid Rehman, United Nations Special Rapporteur to Iran, shows his concern over execution sentences and terrible health condition of the prisons. He says, activists who are in prisons are not provided any medical services and this is a form of torture.
Islamic Republic keeps blaming its mismanagement and horrible condition of the country on US sanctions. There is shortage of masks and gloves across the country. Many are dying in Bandar Anzali, but somehow, they can build a 23 feet statue of Qassim Soleimani. A person who Iranians have proved to despise, if you follow #IraniansDetestSoleimani on Twitter, you see what I mean. Here is the two scenes, you be the judge:
Lying is woven into the nature of this regime. Whatever they say is just a lie, that’s why we are here to uncover the truth!
