Updates for Feb 28, Feb 27, Feb 26, Feb 25, Feb 24, Feb 23 and up to Feb 22 are posted on their individual pages.
Updated @23:50 local time: Masouleh tourism official asks tourists not to come to this historical city in Gilan, N Iran.
Updated @23:35 local time: 4 more dead at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Soome’eh Sara, Gilan, N Iran.
Updated @23:20 local time: From tomorrow, Sunday March 1, everybody suspected of Coronavirus is NOT allowed to exit Qom.
Grand Ayatollah Saafi allows using “Imam’s share” for preventing/treating COVID-19.
Update @17:45 local time: Hospital visitation is prohibited across the country.
Just like predicted the numbers announced by the government are not reliable, BBC reported last night that 210 people have died of COVID-19. Another source told Manoto News, a popular London based Persian news channel, 293 is the death toll and 20,457 have been infected as of 7PM local time on Feb 28. The source claims that Supreme National Security Council has decided to announce the numbers gradually while saying this week (starting today) is the peak of the virus. But, even these numbers don’t correspond to what we see and hear from Iran, from witnesses on the ground.
However, today the Health Ministry announced 205 more cases have been confirmed, 9 more have died of Coronavirus and it has spread to one more province from yesterday. This is the breakdown of the confirmed cases from yesterday:
Tehran:52, Golestan:22, Qom:21, Markazi:18, Gilan:17, Isfahan:12, Mazandaran:12, Fars:8, Alborz:8, Qazvin:6, East Azerbaijan:6, Kurdistan:5, Semnan:4, Khuzestan:4, Yazd:4, Ardebil:3, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Sistan & Baluchestan: 1 each
Total: 593
Dead: 43
Healed: 123
Provinces: 25, one more than yesterday.
The spokesman added, “The number of suspected cases are more than the infected. 10-15% of those may be infected.”
Even with the “official” numbers, the death rate is much higher than the global level and this is a huge concern.
The situation is much worse than the government let us to believe. There were reports and a video of a mass grave dug for the victims in Gilan, N Iran. There are physicians and nurses dying of the disease and hospitals are at full capacity, some refusing to admit new suspected cases. The healthcare in Iran is not robust or adequate to respond to such a big magnititude epidemic but the officials refuse to ask for help. International organizations like WHO are just watching more people die every day.
There are reports of Khamenei’s grandson has also contracted the virus. Mohammad Mir Mohammadi, a member of Expediency Discernment Council who had the disease is reportedly feeling better. Ramezani, who was just “elected” to be representative of Astaneh in the parliament, is dead from the virus, his condition was denied repeatedly by other officials. Truth or lie, 5 members of the parliament are tested positive from the 100 who had taken the test. Probably another lie but, Faridaddin Haddad Adel, son of Gholam Ali Haddad Adel and brother-in-law of Mojtaba Khamenei (son of the Supreme Leader), posted on social media that his test was positive too.
And this one doesn’t need any explanation, just one thing, 700 Chinese clergies in Qom are thought to be the source of COVID19 in Iran:
US Secretary of States, Mike Pompeo, said they had offered the IR regime help to contain the disease but the regime refused to accept it. That being said, US has also eased on sanctions so humanitarian aids could reach Iran faster and easier.
The virus has spread to many countries because the outbreak was hidden by officials for so long. Canada confirmed at least 3 new cases across the country, all coming from Iran. Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan all reported cases with travel history to Iran.
The Islamic Republic regime is knowingly causing the deaths of many Iranians. There are reasons behind it which will be discussed in another post. But Iranian people need help and WHO must step up. This could become a worldwide pandemic if it is not contained in Iran as soon as possible.