Iran: coroanvirus death toll reaches 44,000

At least 43,600 people have died of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran, according to the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) on Friday.

Meanwhile, the regime presents a death toll of 7,183, because they are trying desperately to hide the number of deaths to look like they have control of the situation. They are threatening medical staff and families into keeping silent.

However, Health Ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpour did announce that 2,346 more people tested positive for the coronavirus across Iran in the previous 24 hours; a figure that has doubled in just two weeks. Due to the regime’s inaction, the coronavirus death toll is rapidly rising.

Still, President Hassan Rouhani felt obliged to claim that they have been making “good” progress against the virus, with no regression at all, and had nearly reached the containment phase.

Other officials have openly expressed grave concern over this new wave that sprang up after the regime sent people back to work last month.

The Isfahan Medical Sciences University spokesperson said that the number of cases that are not being hospitalized has increased by 50% in one week, something he said was “an alarm bell” because if people’s awareness decreases, the virus will spread easier.

The dean of Tabriz Medical Sciences University said that cases were increasing in East Azerbaijan Province, while the governor of Mehdishahr in Semnan Province called the rise in cases there “very alarming”.

The deputy dean of Zahedan Medical Sciences University said: “In April and May we have been witnessing a peak in the coronavirus illness in Sistan & Baluchistan Province. Forty per cent of this province’s deaths were in this period… In the next few days, the number of COVID-19 cases will most definitely rise significantly in the Najaf Abad district of the city of Khash.”

While Alireza Zali, the head of the Coronavirus Task Force, said that in the cities once considered low-risk there was a sudden spike in cases and that any “declining curve has stopped”. He said that the dire situation now seen in Khuzestan could repeat anywhere.

Of course, as most things do, the burden has fallen more heavily on the poor, who are forced to go out to work, even if it’s unsafe because they can’t afford to stay home or don’t have jobs that they could do from home.

Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said that while “the people’s backs are bent under the strain of the coronavirus and poverty”, Rouhani’s ridiculous claims about immense progress are not believed.