Updates for Feb 26, Feb 25, Feb 24, Feb 23 and up to Feb 22 are posted on their individual pages.
Update @23:30 local time: Oman reports its 6th case of Coronavirus.
Sources: President Hassan Rouhani and 7 people working in his office have contracted COVID-19 and are isolated. The sources claim the number of deaths is more than 1034 people. Ahvaz hospitals, SW Iran are crowded with many patients. Lack of supplies and care are obvious across the country. The IR regime doesn’t share the truth.
Update @21:15 local time: UAE confirms 6 cases of COVID-19 including 4 Iranians.
Update @16:42 local time: Tehran’s schools remain closed for next week.
After several Qom officials being diagnosed with COVID-19, one of its parliament representatives is also tested positive. Zonnoor is the head of Parliament’s National Security Committee.
Update @16:27 local time: Friday prayers on Feb 28, has been canceled in Tehran, Isfahan and Tabriz. You can tell how bad the situation is when they cancel one of the regime’s biggest propaganda platforms. This is happening for the first time in the history of Islamic Republic.
Update @16:00 local time: Masoumeh Ebtekar, advisor to the President, is infected with COVID-19. Her test came back positive today.
She was bragging about her immunology doctorate on her Twitter page saying, “We should trust the government protocols. We have the best experts in the world.”
Update @17:35 local time: Jahanpur, the Health Ministry Spokesperson, with a delay compared to days before announces the following information regarding the official stats of Coronavirus in Iran:
106 more cases since yesterday afternoon have been confirmed, including:
Tehran: 38 Gilan: 23 Isfahan: 8 Qom: 7 Mazandaran: 7 Kermanshah: 2 Ardebil: 5 Lorestan: 3 Semnan: 3 Arlborz: 3 East Azerbaijan: 2 Hamedan, Khorasan Razavi, Yazd, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan: 1 each
Total today: 248
Dead: 26 (7 more compared to yesterday)
Provinces involved: 22
The Coronavirus is not something you could stop by prayers and it is proving itself by continuing to spread through the country and infecting more people. 14 suspected cases have been admitted to three hospitals in Shahriyar, outskirt of Tehran. 1 confirmed case who wasn’t a resident of the county was transferred to Tehran. A Shahriyar’s official confirmed all gatherings including prayers in mosques, and sporting events are banned in the county.
A 55-year-old female has been admitted to a hospital in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province, as the first confirmed case in the area. She is said to be doing well, according to the head of Orumiyeh’s University of Medical Sciences. She had recently traveled to Qom, where the zero patient was identified, officially.
Iranshahr’s head of University of Medical Sciences says there are 35 suspected cases of Coronavirus admitted in a hospital. Iranshahr is in Sistan&Baluchestan province, SE Iran, where 2 confirmed cases were already announced officially. It’s worth mentioning that province struggles with poverty and lack of care for any kind of disease, let alone this contagious virus.
A source inside Tehran’s Yaaft Abad Hospital which is one of the medical centers assigned to Coronavirus patients says at least 17 people have died of this virus there alone. You can imagine what is happening in other places with less equipment and lack of expertise.
A prisoner named Mohammadreza, 44 years old, who was suspected of being a COVID-19 patient died of respiratory arrest in Greater Tehran Prison. He wasn’t taken to a hospital or isolation. HRNA warns about prisons being involved with the disease and how shortage of proper care and poor environmental health could cause a disaster.
After passing of a nurse in Lahijan, Gilan, N Iran from contracting the virus, a doctor involved with COVID-19 patients passed away from the disease in Astaneh, Gilan. The Governor identified the physician as Dr. Reza Koochakinia.
Iran’s cyber police has arrested 24 people for “spreading rumors about Coronavirus”. The head of cyber police said, “We’ve identified 24 accounts which posted videos/photos about the disease and send their cases to courts. We are actively working on cyber space to prevent spreading misinformation. 118 people were asked not to post rumors.” He also introduced a website for people to submit tips.
Shahrbanoo Amini, a member of Tehran City Council responded to Rouhani saying, “Mr. President, Coronavirus is not a member of your cabinet to take orders from you. It’s a virus spreading fast and has become an epidemic, it doesn’t differentiate between officials and ordinary people. You are responsible for the lives of citizens. Act responsibly and should put people’s lives as your top priority, nothing else.” Yesterday, President Rouhani said we shouldn’t “accuse” Corona of killing every body, some people die of something else. Also, he said everything should go back to normal on Saturday, including schools which has been criticized by parents.
Pakistan confirms 2 cases of the virus. Both cases had traveled to Iran in the past two weeks.
Georgia announces their first case of COVID-19 who was a man entering the country after traveling to Iran. He entered Georgia on Tuesday with 13 other people on a minibus and tested positive on the border of Azerbaijan to Georgia. All 14 were quarantined.
Kuwait announces 26 cases of Coronavirus. Qatar and Kuwait order all their citizens back home from Iran. In the meantime, Iraq bans all gatherings across the country, and closing schools until March 7. Iraq also bans traveling to Iran, China and 5 other countries. Also, Russia stops issuing visas to Iranian citizens until further notice.
Last night, the National Corona Committee had a meeting and made some disappointing decisions about containing the virus. It seems like Iran’s government doesn’t want to take responsibility for its role in spreading the virus across the globe. Apparently the government has refused to allow a WHO team of experts to enter the country, supervising the situation.
Brian Hook, special Envoy of US State Department to Iran announces the news saying “it’s a bad sign the regime doesn’t allow WHO to do its job because they’re afraid what they may find. It’s very important that nobody interferes with WHO job. What we know is regimes would like to hide what really is happening when they are faced with health crisis, and since this regime is fond of covering up facts it’s not surprising to me that they would block WHO’s way so nobody can know what’s happening there.”
Officials keep blaming the “enemies” and clergies tell people to gather for prayers! For instance watch these sample videos:
*Note: These videos and statements are NOT jokes.
You can read more about how incompetent the government has been in containing the virus by reading other daily posts.