Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, April 28, 2020—Over 36,600 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 301 cities checkered across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Monday afternoon local time, April 27. The official death count declared by the regime is 5,877, nearly a seventh of the actual figure.
The death toll in various provinces include: 6,130 in Tehran, 2,890 in Razavi Khorasan, 1,660 in Khuzestan, 1,125 in Golestan, 905 in Hamedan, 895 in Fars, 799 in Sistan & Baluchistan, 770 in Semnan, 645 in Yazd, and 410 in North Khorasan. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Over 36,600 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran
Following the whitewashing measures of Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani and his Health Ministry falling in line in less 24 hours by declaring 127 cities as “corona-free” or “white” areas, Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi specifically said the capitals of all the country’s 31 provinces are considered “red” areas. This is in addition to at least one other city in each province. As a result, most regions across Iran remain engulfed with the coronavirus threat.
“There are 60 cities that have the highest number of new COVID-19 cases. Provincial capitals are among these classifications. There are other places that the number of coronavirus cases and deaths are high, including numerous cities in the provinces of Lorestan, Khuzestan, Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz. In most provinces at least one city, in addition to the provincial capital, are considered red areas… this is not a small population. In comparison to white areas, consisting of about 116 cities with a population of around 15 million. As a result, most regions across the country are still engulfed with coronavirus,” Raisi said on Tuesday, April 28, according to the regime’s official IRNA news agency.
Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, a member of the regime’s COVID-19 Task Force HQ, described the country’s conditions as red. “The current stats of the coronavirus illness are 20 times higher than what is being announced by the Health Ministry. This has resulted in the people not taking this lethal illness seriously… To this day, only six percent of the patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified across the country… The government took actions far too soon in lifting social restrictions and commuting limitations, putting the [economy] before public health. The negative consequences of this hasty decision will reveal itself in the next few weeks. It is forecasted that the continuation of this negligence will result in the second coronavirus wave to take over the country by the second week of May,” Mahboubfar said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Vatan-e Emrouz daily.
While the Health Ministry announced ten cities in Kerman Province as “white” areas, an official of the Kerman Medical Sciences University said, “With the numbers that we are witnessing on a daily basis, we are not seeing a decreasing trend of new coronavirus cases in Kerman Province and I don’t believe Kerman Province can be considered a white area.” (Source: State-run ISNA news agency—April 27, 2020)
Qassem Soleimani Dashtki, the governor of Ilam Province, “called on locals to cooperate following a sudden rise in coronavirus cases,” according to a piece published by the state-run Hamshahri daily on April 27. “If people do not cooperate the situation will be even more difficult… Negligence in Ilam Province has led to a rise in new COVID-19 cases. Large crowds in the markets suddenly increased the number of coronavirus cases in Ilam to 17 cases per day. This is very worrying in relation to Ilam’s population.” It is quite interesting to see regime officials now blame the general public for the new rise in coronavirus numbers while senior officials ordered millions of people back to work.
Farzin Rezaie, dean of Kurdistan Medical Sciences University said, “In the past 24 hours the number of COVID-19 cases in this province has increased once again. The city of Saqqez, with 283 people infected, has the highest number of coronavirus cases in this province.” Prior to this, inmates of Saqqez Prison had launched protests and a riot on March 27 over concerns of being infected with COVID-19 and the lack of even basic hygiene and medical supplies. A large number of these inmates fled the facility.
Riots are escalating in #Iran's prisons. The incidents are taking place against the backdrop of the worsening #coronavirus outbreak, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 14,700 people. Iran’s prisons are hit badly as humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate. pic.twitter.com/98QKoH1YdN
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 31, 2020
Dr. Tahereh Changiz, dean of the University of Medical Sciences of Isfahan expressed concern about the second wave of coronavirus and said that in Isfahan, without counting Kashan, the hospitals overseen by this university have hospitalized 12,000 coronavirus patients and counted 700 deaths. She added, “In Kashan, the number of deaths and patients are very high in comparison to the population and the situation of this city is similar to Qom and Gilan.”
MP Mohammad Khodabakhshi from Aligudarz said, “The Health Ministry must assess the reason for the large number of deaths [in Aligudarz], but one of the reasons is the lack of anesthesia specialists in the hospitals. Another reason is the low test rates… the percentage of cases in the city is still high… these institutions [such as Mostazafan Foundation] can help, but until now, there has been no help to Aligudarz.”
Meanwhile, the situation in the prisons of the country is very critical. Most of the inmates in Evin Prison’s Ward 4 have contracted coronavirus and are suffering from dry coughs, fever and diarrhea.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), protested the inaction of the UN Security Council in respect with the critical situation in Iran’s prisons and reminded that many prisoners in Evin and other prisoners have contracted coronavirus, but the regime has not released the inmates, nor has it quarantined the sick or provided treatment. The regime is torturing the prisoners to death. At the same time, to cause terror, the regime is resorting to the mass execution of prisoners in the month of Ramadan. Today, the regime executed prisoners in Urmia and Sanandaj prisons.
Mrs. Rajavi once again called on the international community, especially the UN Security Council to take immediate action to stop executions and free prisoners, especially political prisoners. Silence in the face of the regime’s crimes in prisons is a negligence of the humanitarian values for which millions of people have laid down their lives, she reiterated.
