958 new confirmed cases and 63 deaths are the official numbers announced by the Ministry of Health, today. 63 is the highest number of deaths in 24hrs so far.
Total: 9000
Dead: 354
Healed: 2959
The spokesman for the ministry refused to give collective number of infected by each province and instead announced number of infected in the past 24hrs only.
The crisis is getting worse by day, we hear completely different numbers from other sources. Iran International puts the number of deaths at 1406, meaning 123 since yesterday. Tehran, Qom, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi and Gilan are at the top of the list. Mazandaran is getting closer to the top with 86 deaths. An official in Kashan, Isfahan, has said 88 people were killed by the virus in that city alone!
More healthcare workers are joining the infected and a few have added to the deaths. However, none of these have forced the government to do the right thing and quarantine any city. People are free to go wherever they like and spread the disease, although many have chosen to self-quarantine. Some people can afford to do so, but others would die of hunger if not go to work for one even one day. The president and health officials keep “advising” everybody to stay home, the government offices are back to normal hours, banks are working on regular schedule, …. How is it possible to stay home? Aren’t those people working at those offices/places at risk of COVID-19? The president also laughed at the idea of moving the Persian New Year holidays (starting March 20).
The mismanagement of the crisis is so terrible that provinces have taken things into their own control. For example, Khuzestan has put up roadblocks so nobody can enter the province.
News coming from Rasht, Gilan, N Iran, is devastating. Bodies are piling up and nobody is taking responsibility to manage this catastrophe properly. WHO’s team of experts left Iran with no positive impact on the situation.
IRGC has taken full control of all aids sent to Iran. They have a history of doing so, like the catastrophic earthquake in Bam, Kerman in 2003. A lot of the supplies and money got lost and now it’s happening again. IRGC controls everything in Iran, no surprise for Iranians but international organizations such as WHO need to learn their lesson and have some sorts of oversight on how the aids are distributed.