The officials take the weekends off (Thursday&Friday) for the press conference, not because the outbreak has died down but because they want to induce normalized situation in people’s minds! Their tricks and lies have caused a lot of issues including people perceiving COVID-19 as under control in the country, despite the fact that it is not!
We had reported on Lorestan becoming a “red” province with rising number of infected cases, today the Governor said the capital of this province is in critical condition! Toolabi said, “All funerals, weddings and gatherings are banned. Everybody must wear gloves and masks in public areas.” In Khuzestan, the crisis continues to involve another city. Behbahan Mayor said, “The city is in extremely critical circumstance and the number of positive cases is exploding.”
Jundishapur’s Medical University Spokesman announced 553 new cases between May 12 and May 13 in Khuzestan! That is 3 times the 164 new cases found on May 12! That indicates COVID-19 outburst in the province. He also mentioned 310 have died of the novel coronavirus in his province. Before the country was reopened on April 11, Khuzestan had 50-70 cases on a daily bases which jumped to 170-190 after that date. While Rouhani and his administration, always try to blame everything on “people not abiding to social distancing instructions”, Khorramshahr’s parliament representative said, “What has increased the prevalence of coronavirus in Khuzestan is the inadequacies and contradictions the government, a behavior that has led people not to believe them anymore.”
Officials in Mashhad, the second biggest city in the country, had said no physician had died of the virus in this city but in an interview with a newspaper, head of Mashhad’s Medical Council confirmed that 2 physicians have passed away due to COVID-19. He also said 70 have contracted the deadly virus. Contrary to what Rouhani and other officials have been bragging about being “self-sufficient” and “exporting” the extra medical supplies, he said, “We have problems in buying our supplies even though we are ready to pay with cash. It has gotten better, but in the beginning of the outbreak, it was a disaster, we couldn’t provide protective gears to our personnel and that has caused so many of our staff to be infected.”
The country is devastated by coronavirus impacts but IRNA, the government’s official news agency, only has good news and exemplary management of the crisis on its outlet! It’s just fascinating how the propaganda machine of the regime works, inside and out the country. For example, mouthpieces of the regime in western media are still pursuing the “lift sanctions because they have hindered Iran’s ability to combat the pandemic” talk point, despite US has made it clear that medical supplies and equipment have not ever been sanctioned. IRNA published the news of receiving 96 tons of medical supplies from Germany, worth about $750,000! How do these sanctions work, I wouldn’t know!
At IranTrue, we have been shouting about the ongoing crisis in Iran, 100s of Iranians dying every day. Even though the only source for the infected numbers is the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Health which are manipulated and fake, basic reproduction rate (R0) and graphs are good indicators on how the crisis is “under control” after more than 84 days! The whooping increase in “admissions” is specially alarming!
R0: 1.20
Total: 114,533 (+1,808)
Dead: 6,854 (+71)
Healed: 90,539
Critical: 2,758 (+23)
Admitted: 17,140 (+626)
Tests: 643,772 (Number of labs wasn’t mentioned in today’s news. Officials may have finally figured out there are discrepancies when they lie.)
Iran International Death Toll: 13,193 (Last updated on April 25)
