Falsifying numbers by the officials have been established, but the Ministry of Health continues the daily show by fabricating low numbers to induce the false sense of security in public. 976 new cases and 47 deaths were confirmed since yesterday, the lowest number of deaths in the past 55 days! In the meantime, new decisions by the National Corona Combating Committee were announced by president Rouhani.
132 counties have been designated as white, 255 yellow and 61 red! The committee has decided to reopen mosques in the “white” counties and Friday Prayers will be held in 157 cities! Rouhani said, “We still haven’t reached the optimum position but we have done great. In the first stage of screening 78 million people have participated and in the second step 30 million!” Looks like they just love to spew the first big number coming to their mind! 78 million means almost every single person in the country of 83 million have gone online, to hospitals, medical centers,… to screen himself!
He continued, “In the past 24 hours, only 300 have been admitted to hospitals, which is great news.” At the same time, Jahanpur was announcing 976 new cases were confirmed for today! Considering they only test people who are suspected of the disease and admitted to hospitals, this is astonishing!
He once again compared Iran to US, saying there has been no contradictions between parties and officials while US has had plenty! If you read our daily reports, you know how much contradiction there is! Even in today’s report. Dr Mardani, a member of National Infectious Disease Control Committee disagrees with categorizing the country into 3 colors!! He believes this would increase the chance of spread from red to other areas when there is no travel restrictions. The same point we raised days ago!
Schools in white counties will be reopened on May 16. However, the Ministry of Education will have full authority on deciding how or delay it further if needed. Rouhani also announced reopening of hair salons, barbershops and gyms in “red counties” under strict health protocols, whatever that may be!!
He also gloated about “free treatment for all” and comparing it to “treatment discrimination in other countries”. In reality, there have been many reports of people charged hefty prices for their treatment. Even Deputy Health Minister in Treatment Affairs has said it several times that people are charged for test and admissions. Spokesman for the Ministry have also admitted to this fact.
The good point Rouhani made during this meeting was, “Corona is not over and we still have a lot to do to control it.” Another direct contradiction to his own speeches during the past few WEEKS. The graphs and basic reproduction rate (R0) confirms the ongoing crisis.
R0: 1.16
Total: 97,422
Dead: 6,203
Healed: 78,422
Critical: 2,690
Admitted: 12,799
Tests: 496,273 at 130 labs
Iran International Death Toll: 13,193 (Last updated on April 25)