The severity of the epidemic is difficult to assess and there are considerations that the scenario would possibly have been much worse than the government has revealed.
Documents received through the BBC, which will be unpublished official Iranian documents, recommend a much larger number of deaths.
So what do we know about the numbers and this outbreak in Iran?
Published knowledge about new instances recommends that, after a peak moment in early June, the number of new reported instances remains consistently above more than 2,000 consistent with the day.
However, this could be a significant underestimation judging by the more recent documents received that imply that Iran has retained the true scale of the epidemic.
According to these figures, the pandemic killed 42,000 Iranians as of July 21, 14,000 deaths reported through the Ministry of Health at the time.
In April, Iran began to reduce its restrictions as infections subsided:
Urban transport systems across Iran, such as banks and offices, have been filled with people.
The epidemic focused first on Qom and the capital, Tehran. But now there has been an increase in the southwest, especially in Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq.
Officials have reported that the increase in new instances may be due to more evidence, and President Hassan Rohani said this means it will locate more instances.
The leading Iranian epidemiologist in the country’s Ministry of Health, Mohammad-Mehdi Gouya, explained: “The main explanation for why the accumulation of numbers is that we have begun to identify [infected people] who have no symptoms or have mild symptoms.”
Iran increased its evidence and tested about one in 38 people starting July 22, far more than at the start of the pandemic.
But it is even less than the United States or European countries that have been affected by the virus.
The proportion of tests in Iran that showed a positive result began to accumulate last May and early June, reaching 14%. But since then, it has remained between nine and 10%.
That’s about ten tests for a positive case.
WHO has recommended at least 10 to 30 tests consistent with a positive case as a general benchmark for sufficiently good testing, according to Our World in Data, which compiles statistics on coronavirus tests.
This means that at this time, Iran would probably not be doing enough evidence to locate all cases.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki said others are unaware of social estrangement regulations.
“People are absolutely careless about this disease,” he told Iran’s news agency.
And a survey through the Department of Health in June that:
What’s wrong with the government?
During the initial outbreak, the Iranian government was criticized for its reluctance to close mosques and devout primary sites, and for acting more temporarily to introduce restrictions.
Iranian leaders cannot maintain restrictions due to the state of the economy, according to BBC Persian’s Rana Rahimpour.
He adds that he faces demanding situations, such as U.S. sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement.
However, President Rohani told Iranians to wear masks on public transport and overcrowded areas, and said that, if necessary, the police and security forces would enforce the rules.
And the ideal leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for action to prevent the development of new infections and criticized those who do not wear face masks.
On July 18, the government of the capital, Tehran, announced that restrictions were being re-imposed on certain companies and public gatherings, adding wedding halls, cafes, tea rooms, amusement parks and zoos.
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