At least Covid-19 cases have been reported in Iran
Iran’s deputy health minister has denied accusations of a cover-up of the novel coronavirus outbreak as the death toll in the country stands at 12.
A parliamentarian from Qom, the city at the center of Iran’s Covid-19 outbreak, accused the government of lying about the scale of the problem.
Ahmad Amirabidi-Farahani said there were 50 deaths in Qom alone.
This proposal was rejected by the minister, who promised to resign if it was proven that even a part of that number had died.
“I categorically deny this information,” Iraj Harirchi told a news conference.
“This is the time for political confrontations. The coronavirus is a national problem,” he added.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei also insisted that the government would be transparent in reporting deaths related to Covid-19, the infectious respiratory disease caused by the virus.
However, Mr. Amirabidi-Farahani refused to retract his statement.
“I gave the names of 40 other deceased people to the deputy minister. We are now waiting for his resignation,” he quoted Ilna news agency as saying.
Later, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that the sudden surge in cases in Iran, as well as Italy and South Korea, was “deeply worrying. “
When asked about the highest death rate in Iran, Dr Michael Ryan of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme said: “We want to be very cautious about the first wave of infections in any newly affected country. It’s going to be overrepresented. “
Dr Ryan said a WHO team would arrive in Iran on Tuesday to provide support.
The BBC’s fitness editor tells us what we know about the virus
Since last Wednesday, at least cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Iran.
Qom province is the worst-affected, with 34 cases, according to the Health Ministry. Tehran has thirteen cases, Gilan six, Markazi four, Isfahan two, Hamadan and Mazandaran one each.
Authorities have ordered the closure of schools and universities in Qom in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Quoting Health Minister Saeed Namaki, a speaker for Iran’s parliament said in a closed-door consultation on Monday that “the cause of coronavirus infections in Iran is due to other people entering the country illegally from Pakistan, Afghanistan and China,” news firm ISNA reported. Reported.
Namaki said in a televised address on Sunday that one of those killed in Qom was a merchant from the city who traveled to China.
He suggested others travel to Qom, which is a top destination for Shiite Muslim pilgrims.
Qom, km south of Tehran, has a population of more than 1. 2 million.
Image source: Reuters
Qom is the location of the shrine of Hazrat Masumeh, a respected saint in Shia Islam.
The city is visited every year by millions of Shia Muslim pilgrims and tourists from Iran and other countries, as it is home to the shrine of Hazrat Masumeh, a respected saint who is the sister of the eighth Shiite imam.
Qom is also home to many of Iran’s highest-ranking Shiite clerics, and tens of thousands of theology scholars come from all over the world to attend its seminary.
Also on Monday, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Oman were the latest countries in the Middle East to report their first cases, all linked to Iran.
Kuwait said it had detected Covid-13 in three other people, in addition to a Kuwaiti and a Saudi, who were evacuated from Iran on Saturday.
The two cases from Oman concerned two Omanis who traveled to Iran, local media reported.
Iraq said it was treating an Iranian theology student living in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, while Bahrain said a Bahraini citizen who arrived from Iran had been diagnosed with the disease.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan have imposed restrictions on immigration from Iran.
Image source, EPA
Health experts worry it’s too late to prevent the outbreak from becoming a global pandemic.
The WHO said Sunday that 78,811 cases of Covid-19 and 2,462 deaths have been reported there. All 1,769 cases and 17 deaths have been reported in China.
The BBC’s medical correspondent Fergus Walsh said fitness experts fear it is too late to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from becoming a global pandemic as the virus spreads online in various parts of the world.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it is “too early” to talk about a pandemic.
“At the moment, we’re not seeing an out-of-control global spread of this virus and we’re not seeing severe illness or large-scale deaths,” he explained. “Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely it is. Is it there yet?According to our assessment, not yet. “
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