Iran - Covid-19: 397,801 cases; 22,913 deaths - August BBC investigation says 451,025 cases, 42,000 deaths

[Shiloh]

Iran says coronavirus has spread to several cities, reports two new deaths
February 21, 2020 / 5:55 AM / Updated 2 hours ago
2 Min Read

...“Based on existing reports, the spread of coronavirus started in Qom and with attention to people’s travels has now reached several cities in the country including Tehran, Babol, Arak, Isfahan, Rasht and other cities,” health ministry official Minou Mohrez said, according to the official IRNA news agency...


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKBN20F1GU

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/corona...b-21-1.5470987

...Iran confirmed 13 new coronavirus cases and two deaths among the group of new cases, Health Ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpur said in a tweet on Friday.

The new cases comprised seven people diagnosed in Qom, four in Tehran and two in Gilan, Jahanpur said in the tweet.

The total number of cases in Iran now stands at 18, with four of those people having died...

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.payvand.com/news/20/feb/1044.html

Jahanpour added that two people suspected of carrying the virus had been quarantined in the city of Babol, the northern province of Mazandaran, but the test results have not been announced yet.

[sharon sanders]

Kianush Jahanpur
@drjahanpur
?
7h
تصحیح روایت وزیر بهداشت ترکیه از مذاکره تلفنی با وزیر بهداشت جمهوری اسلامی ایران
@saeednamaki
Quote Tweet

T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı
@saglikbakanligi
? 8h
Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca held a phone conversation with Said Namaki, the Minister of Health of Iran. Mr. Namaki declared that among 753 outpatients, they made 285 laboratory COVID-19 specific tests, where 18 were confirmed positive.

[kiwibird]

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-health-iran/ten-new-cases-of-coronavirus-in-iran-one-dead-health-ministry-idUKKCN20G0C6?il=0

DUBAI (Reuters) - Ten new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Iran, one of whom has died, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Saturday.

The new numbers bring the total number of cases of the new coronavirus in the country to 28, with five of the total having died. The spokesman did not say where the latest death had been.

...snip

[kiwibird]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-iran/state-tv-reports-iranian-mayor-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-official-denies-report-idUSKCN20G075

State TV reports Iranian mayor tests positive for coronavirus, official denies report

1 MIN READ
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian official has tested positive for coronavirus, state TV reported on Saturday.

Morteza Rahmanzadeh, the mayor of district 13 of the capital Tehran, was hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms on Friday, according to state TV.

[kiwibird]

Unconfirmed twitter video https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/sta...38678489206784 Support person does not appear to be wearing much protective clothing.

[kiwibird]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1230551812358447104

Unconfirmed Audio

Dr. Alavi works at the Kamkar hospital in Qom, Iran reports that over 20 patients have died from clinically diagnosed cases of #coronavirus at his hospital. Tehran is the only place in the country where COVID19 samples can be tested. (Hector Torres)

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2...s-5th-fatality

Iran reports 10 new Covid-19 cases, 5th fatality
By AFP - February 22, 2020 @ 5:23pm

TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday reported 10 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases and one new death, bringing the total number of deaths in the Islamic republic to five and infections to 28.

"We have 10 new confirmed cases of Covid-19," health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on state television.

"One of the new cases has unfortunately passed away," he added, noting that eight of them have been hospitalised in Qom and two in Tehran, without specifying where the death occurred...

[Readymom]

SO, am I looking at this wrong? In Shilo's post (#38), 'official' deaths reported are (5) ... but in Kiwi's post (#37), an unconfirmed audio is stating (20) deaths in just a single hospital. Are we looking at another China, with questionable stats? (which, of course, wouldn't be surprising for Iran)

[kiwibird]

I don't think much would surprise me about any governments reaction to this crisis. I think the less prepared countries are the more they panic (and in some instances this would appear to be exhibited by complete inertia and feeding their citizens information that would appear to be statistically impossible.) If Sharon has no idea about what is going on in Iran then we have no chance of knowing.

[kiwibird]

https://www.boursorama.com/bourse/actualites/coronavirus-l-iran-ferme-des-etablissements-scolaires-apres-un-cinquieme-deces-dbdba43e041ebe77820b1362b655b7fa

QUOTE] Iran announced on Saturday the temporary closure of schools, educational centers and universities in two cities affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, which has already killed five people in the country, the highest number of deaths recorded in a countries outside the Far East.

These establishments in Qom - the city where the first two cases of Covid-19, who died since-- were recorded - and of Arak, in the center of the country, will be closed for two days and one week respectively from Sunday, a announced the state TV channel on Saturday, referring to a "preventive measure". [/QUOTE].. snip

[Shiloh]

The stats are questionable. Yesterday, there was an election in Iran...maybe 25% turnout due to most of the population boycotting it....a good thing in light of the cases there. Qom is a religious center, thus draws pilgrims from all over the country and elsewhere, which is likely contributing to the spread. Seems like all info is being channeled via the govt. newspaper and the Minister of Health. Dissident organizations are the other source of info. All sides have an agenda. The fact that Iranians, who test positive, are being found in Canada and elsewhere, suggest that it might be a widespread problem.

[Shiloh]

Source: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-...ad-officials-2

Ten new cases of coronavirus in Iran, two dead- officials
Reuters
Babak Dehghanpisheh
February 22, 2020
12:26 PM EST

DUBAI — Authorities in Iran on Saturday announced the detection of at least 10 new cases of coronavirus and two more deaths, deepening a sense of public unease over the handling of the spread of the disease.

The latest cases appeared to bring the number of cases in Iran to 29 and the number of deaths to six.

News of the latest cases and deaths came from Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur and the governor of Markazi province in central Iran, cited by state TV...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iranian-.../30449047.html

Iranian Doctors Call For 'Long Holiday' To Contain Coronavirus, As Sixth Victim Dies
51 minutes ago
Radio Farda

A group of doctors from various universities of Tehran has called on the government to shut down all schools, universities, theaters and cinemas, stadiums and other public places until after Nowrouz (New Year) holidays to contain the coronavirus outbreak and prevent the virus from spreading.

Nowrouz is celebrated on March 21 and public holidays last through March 24, with schools closed for thirteen days.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening residents of Talesh, a city in Gilan Province where a hospital has been designated to quarantine coronavirus patients, protested against officials demanding that the patients be transferred elsewhere. Riot police clashed with protesters and fired tear gas to disperse protesters. Casualties or arrests have not been reported yet.

A citizen-reporter has sent a video of the protest in Talesh to a journalist abroad. According to him protesters are worried about the spread of the virus to the residents and angry because authorities transferred coronavirus patients to the hospital secretly without any prior announcement...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/30448789.html




Tehran City Council In Limbo After District Mayor Diagnosed With Coronavirus
February 22, 2020
Radio Farda

The meetings of Tehran City Council may be cancelled after the mayor of one Tehran's 22 districts was diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday.

The Mayor of District 13 of Tehran, Mojtaba Rahmanzadeh, already had meetings with several officials, including the Chairman of the Council Mohsen Hashemi, in the past few days before testing positive for the virus.

In a tweet on Saturday Hashemi said he was staying home and was going to go to hospital to be tested although he does not have any symptoms of coronavirus infection. Other members of the Council will also be tested for the virus, he said in his tweet...

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Coronavirus: Iran registers the highest number of deaths in a country outside the Far East

AFP / ATTA KENARE
22FEB2020

Iran announced on Saturday the closure of schools, educational centers, universities and cultural centers, particularly in Tehran, as a precaution against the new coronavirus, which has already killed five people in the Islamic Republic, the highest number of deaths recorded in a country outside the Far East.

Schools, educational centers and universities will be closed in 14 provinces across the country from Sunday, state television said, citing a "preventive measure".

These establishments will notably be closed in Tehran and Qom, the city where the first two cases of Covid-19, who have since died, have been recorded. "We are on the front lines, we need help," implored the dean of the University of Medical Sciences at Qom on television.

The government has also announced that "all artistic events" and screenings of "movies in theaters across the country have been canceled until the end of the week", in order to stop the spread of the virus.

These decisions come a few hours after the authorities announced a fifth death from the new coronavirus, as well as 10 new cases, bringing the total number of infected people in the Islamic Republic to 28.

"We have ten new confirmed cases of Covid-19," health ministry spokesman Kianouche Jahanpour said on state television on Saturday.

"One of the 10 infected people unfortunately died," he added.

Mr. Jahanpour did not specify the nationality of the five deceased people.
...
The Covid-19 virus was first reported in Iran on Wednesday, when authorities announced the first two illness-related deaths of elderly Iranians from the city of Qom, 150 kilometers south of Tehran.

These were the first confirmed deaths from this disease in the Middle East.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the speed at which the virus has spread in Iran and its spread from the Islamic Republic to other countries including Lebanon.

"The concern is (...) that we have seen an increase in cases, a very rapid increase in a few days," said Sylvie Briand, director of the Global Preparedness for Infectious Risks department at WHO.

"We also wonder about the potential risk of more exported cases in the coming days," she added.

- 75,000 masks sold -

According to Jahanpour, Iran has tested 785 suspected cases since the country's first infections.

"Most of the cases are either residents of Qom" or people who have stayed there, he said.

The holy city of Qom welcomes a large number of students to its seminars and also attracts pilgrims.

The Iranian authorities' announcements come the day after the parliamentary elections.

The disease has not dampened "the revolutionary zeal of the residents of Qom" who went to the polls, welcomed the official media.

The Iranians, however, tore off the surgical protective masks to avoid being contaminated. The online sales site Digikala - Iran's equivalent of Amazon - indicated on Twitter on Friday that it had sold 75,000 masks in 36 hours.

No commission is applied on sales of masks, he said, while concerns about a surge in prices on the black market are growing.

"Despite the high demand we oppose the unusual price increase," said Digikala.

- "The epidemic has started" -

Authorities have yet to confirm the source of the virus in the country, but an official in the health ministry said the Covid-19 may have been imported by Chinese workers.

"The coronavirus epidemic has started in the country," said an infectious disease committee chief Minoo Mohraz on Friday, quoted by the official agency Irna.

"Since the people infected in Qom did not have contact with the Chinese (...) the source is probably Chinese workers who work in Qom and who have traveled to China," she added.

However, the authorities have presented no evidence to support this hypothesis, which has not been reported by any other Iranian media.

On Thursday, Iraq, a neighbor worried about the first deaths in Iran due to the new coronavirus, prohibited "until further notice" the Iranians from entering its soil and its nationals from going to the Islamic Republic.

Kuwait Airways, the national airline of Kuwait, also announced that it would suspend all its flights to Iran.

https://www.afp.com/fr/infos/334/coronavirus-liran-enregistre-le-plus-grand-nombre-de-deces-dans-un-pays-hors-extreme-orient-doc-1p77pj11