Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, May 16, 2020—Over 42,100 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 318 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 Saturday afternoon local time, May 16. The official death count declared by the regime is 6,937, less than a sixth of the actual figure.
The death toll in various provinces include: 3,405 in Qom, 2,750 in Khuzestan, 1,265 in Sistan & Baluchistan, 1,155 in Lorestan and 482 in North Khorasan. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Over 42,100 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran
The situation in Khuzestan Province is described as critical and the mullahs’ regime has been forced to shut down 16 cities. Hospitals are full of new COVID-19 patients and many are in very dire conditions. Reports indicate more than 1,000 people have died in various cities across the province. These reports remain under review.
“There is nowhere in the country where conditions can be described as normal, and we may not be able to announce normal conditions anytime soon,” according to the regime’s Health Ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpour on Saturday. “In Khuzestan Province, the status in most of the cities can be described as an emergency,” he added, according to the regime’s state TV.
“All offices, banks, and unnecessary stores in 16 cities Khuzestan Province will be closed until Monday, May 18, to prevent the coronavirus spread. This closure includes the cities of Ahvaz, Karoun, Bavey, Ramhormoz, Masjid Soleiman, Haftkal, Hamidiyeh, Dasht-e Azadegan, Mahshahr, Hendijan, Dezful, Shoush, Shoushtar, Gatvand, Abadan & Khorramshahr will be closed until Monday,” said the Khuzestan Province Governor, according to a report wired on Saturday by the state-run ISNA news agency.
“The number of coronavirus cases began rising at around April 21 after we reopened on April 11,” according to the Ahvaz Medical Sciences University dean in remarks made to state TV on Friday.
Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Locals are forced to purchase their drinking water during the ongoing #coronavirus pandemic. Their homes lack even the basic necessities, raising health risks to dangerous levels.pic.twitter.com/bIAs9NZZ4I— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 16, 2020
“An increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during the past few days in Hormozgan is concerning,” said the governor of Hormozgan Province in southern Iran on Friday, according to the Hamshahri Online website.
“We are faced with a dangerous rise in COVID-19 cases in most parts of the country, especially Tehran… The epidemic threat in Tehran has not been resolved and the wave continues in this major city,” said a senior Health Ministry official on Friday, according to the Javan daily, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Despite these alarming conditions the regime’s state TV cited a COVID-19 Task Force HQ statement on Saturday saying, “All schools will be reopened starting today for a period of one month.”
Weeks ago, senior Iranian regime officials issued orders for people to return to work despite warnings from their own lower-level officials & experts. Khuzestan Province in southwest #Iran is now witnessing a very alarming rise in new #COVID__19 cases.https://t.co/AeNYLpuQB1
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 16, 2020
While Khuzestan has been transformed into a coronavirus killing field, regime president Hassan Rouhani did not make the slightest indication to the situation in this province and said, “The first day that we encountered this virus, we also faced another threat, and I sensed this threat from foreign media. I realized they want to disrupt the country by shutting it down.” While defending his criminal policy of reopening the economy and normalizing the situation, he stipulated that religious sites will reopen after Ramadan and added, “We should prepare the people to live with the coronavirus for several months.”
Rouhani also confessed to disarray in the regime’s healthcare system, which he has been praising in the past weeks. Rouhani said, “A person is a member of an organization but also works in another system. In one place, he tests positive for coronavirus, but tests negative in the medical center of his organization and has been told that he can be present in the workplace. Some systems consider CT scan tests as standards while others use blood tests and saliva tests… when the patient reaches out to doctors, they tell him to ignore other tests because his lungs look healthy.”
Rouhani effectively said that the government will not help the underprivileged and the people who have lost their jobs, and it is up to the people to help them. “There are other issues that the people should help with… There’s a population who have lost their jobs and we have no jobs for them. For some of them, their jobs will resume after three months. Some businesses will not reopen for another month… They have cheques, they have a reputation, they have house rent to pay. The government can’t shoulder this alone.”
Rouhani falsely claimed today that the Iranian regime had succeeded in containing the #coronavirus. Nobody believes this charlatan’s hollow bluffs. As one of the clerical regime’s leaders, he should be held accountable for the spread of the outbreak #Iranhttps://t.co/YSMkzp2Ne0
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) May 15, 2020
While expressing her condolences to the people of Khuzestan, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said Rouhani and regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei are the main culprits of so many deaths in Iran. Their inhuman policies have turned one of the richest provinces of Iran to ruins and caused coronavirus infections to spike again. Rouhani’s remarks today, which hints at the disarray inside the regime once again shows that the leaders of this regime have no respect for the lives and wellbeing of the people of Iran and only care about preserving their tyrannical rule.
Mrs. Rajavi called on the people of Iran to help their compatriots in Khuzestan.
Iran coronavirus outbreak death toll interactive map
