Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 9, 2020—Over 85,500 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 373 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 Sunday afternoon local time, August 9. The official death count declared by the regime stands at 18,427 around a fifth of the actual figure.
The coronavirus death toll in various provinces include: 5,932 in Khuzestan, 3,994 in Mazandaran, 3,607 in Gilan, 3,482 in Lorestan, 2,696 in Sistan & Baluchistan, 2,332 in Golestan, 2,090 in Kermanshah, 1,749 in Kurdistan, 1,287 in North Khorasan, 1,030 in Bushehr, 811 in Zanjan, 680 in Ilam, and 567 in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Over 85,500 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran
Regime President Hassan Rouhani once again placed the blame on the people for the coronavirus outbreak across the country. “Once we had 77 percent abidance by the health protocols and the three-digit fatality figures dropped to two digits. The abidance percentage dropped from 77 percent to 17 percent, once we witnessed a wave,” Rouhani said in his remarks on Sunday at a National Covid-19 Task Force meeting. “The number of our beds, physicians and nurses are limited… at least we need to take into consideration that these circumstances will continue for another six months. Of course, it may be even longer and even a year,” he added, according to the official IRNA news agency. “Why shouldn’t we hold mourning rituals? We can do so with smaller crowds. For places where they planned to have ceremonies with crowds of 1,000 people, we say the crowd should be 100 people,” he continued.
“We witnessed the first patients suffering from Covid-19 exactly a month prior to the official announcement of this virus entering the country, meaning around mid-January. However, at the time the government concealed this due to political and security reservations,” said Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, a member of the National Covid-19 Task Force on Saturday. “Unfortunately, from the very beginning transparent reporting was not provided to the public. Most certainly these numbers have been engineered from the very beginning of the coronavirus epidemic. Anyhow, they are being provided to the society based on political and security reservations. In my opinion the numbers reported by the Health Ministry (cases and deaths) are one twentieth of the true figures,” he said, according to the state-run Jahane Sanat daily.
“In more than 100 countries around the world the Covid-19 death rate has been lowered to zero or single-digit numbers,” said Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi on Sunday. He also acknowledged that the true number of Covid-19 victims are twice the statistics being announced by the Health Ministry.
“When we say 150 deaths in one day due to the novel coronavirus among those individuals testing positive, it means a Covid-19 death rate of 15 percent. If we consider those whose tests that were negative, this 15 percent rate will be doubled or even more,” he added, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Sanandaj, western #Iran
Beheshte Mohammadi CemeteryThe city is in code red conditions. The number of new #COVID19 cases & deaths have increased significantly. pic.twitter.com/TJGv6sYOi2
— People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) June 30, 2020
“We can’t prevent the spread of coronavirus in this month’s annual religious ceremonies with masks. The mourners weep and sweat, masks get wet and will no longer be of any use. It is impossible to impose social distancing protocols in such ceremonies,” said Minoo Mohraz, a member of the National Covid-19 Task Force, on Sunday. “In most provinces, especially Tehran, we are facing a very large number of Covid-19 cases. Most of the hospitals are full and even the Moein Hospital is full. The number of people seeking treatment in Khomeini Hospital where I am had decreased to two each day back in April and May. Currently, however, we see 120 patients seek medical care on some days… We loosened our efforts in confronting Covid-19 and instead the virus became more powerful and more contagious. Therefore, with such circumstances we will have a very bad fall season… When the number of cases rise significantly, it is quite natural that the number of dire patients in ICU under ventilators also rise, and many these patients don’t make it. The ICUs in most hospitals are full and the speed that this virus advances in some individuals is so fast that the patient dies before we can provide medical care,” she explained, according to IRNA.
