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Iran coronavirus update: 28,200 dead, health minister warns of new COVID-19 wave

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, April 14, 2020—Over 28,200 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 273 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 Tuesday afternoon local time, April 14. The official death count declared by the regime is 4,683, a sixth of the actual figure.

The death toll in various provinces include: 4,550 in Tehran, 2,700 in Qom, 2,400 in Razavi Khorasan, 2,310 in Gilan, 2,030 in Isfahan, 1,060 in Alborz, 970 in Golestan, 770 in Kermanshah, 690 in Fars, 460 in Semnan, 260 in Charmahal and Bakhtiary, 230 in Ilam, 150 in Bushehr, and 65 in Hormozgan. This is in addition to the figures reported from other provinces.

Over 28,200 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran

Over 28,200 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran

While the regime tries to cover up the scale of the disaster and justify its criminal decision to return the people back to work amid the spread of the coronavirus, Saeed Namaki, the Iranian regime’s health minister, confessed: “Let’s not think that this stubborn virus will leave us soon. We might be facing a new wave of this epidemic in fall or winter and we must prepare ourselves for harder times. In the most optimistic view, we have 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 persons, which is less than European countries like France, where the quota is 6.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people. This is a novel coronavirus, we don’t even know if it will subside as the weather warms.” 

Alireza Zali, the head of the Coronavirus Task Force said, “In the past 24 hours, we’ve seen a 3-percent growth in cases atthe ICU sections of the hospitals overseen by Tehran’s universities. In Tehran, on average, there are three-to-four times more people using public transportation, which is worrying.”

The Supreme Council of the Medical Organization and its board of directors declared, “There’s a wide gap between the Health Ministry’s statistics and the ground truth, and the public’s trust in official figures has been damaged.”

The regime is under extreme pressure to open up its economic cartels and use its vast financial resources to pay for the expenses of the people instead of sending them to work before the coronavirus outbreak is contained. To lift some of this pressure, regime president Hassan Rouhani has taken some minimal measures that are more like applying a band-aid to a festering wound. On Tuesday, Rouhani declared that the 10-million-rial (approx. $60) loan that was supposed to be given to the people at a 12-percent interest rate will be transformed into an interest-free loan and the government will cover the fees.

The enormous amount of pressure placed on the regime by the Iranian people and Resistance regarding the foundations controlled Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and its impacts inside Iran were quite effective. During this daily press conference on Tuesday, the regime’s Health Ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour spoke in line with the mullahs’ judiciary, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and state media in saying, “The Mostazafan Foundation, Astan Quds Razavi and especially the Executing of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) entity have been providing significant support for the National COVID-19 Task Force Headquarters.”

Head of the regime’s IRGC said a new entity has been established by the name of “Imam Hassan Mojtaba” HQ consisting of the Mostazafan Foundation, EIKO, the Imam Relief Committee, the IRGC Basij and Astan Quds Razavi. They will be providing aid to “around 3.5 million families.” However, Basij members will be identifying who should receive this aid. In other words, the IRGC intends to portray what it is taking from pocket to another as its aid to the people.

All the while, state media in Iran are expressing grave concerns about possible popular uprisings. The Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote on April 13: “The government… has turned coronavirus into a security dilemma. Considering this security viewpoint to the society and COVID-19, the lack of a production apparatus, hoards of small businesses and services, the pile-up of poor people, migrants and those living in city slums across the country are all tantamount to a social time bomb that can explode at any moment and result in social unrests.”

The state-run Etemad daily wrote on April 13: “Lack of will in finding a solution could eventually lead to riots by the lower class and even some unrests or escalating social dilemmas.”

Another state-run day wrote, “In addition to foreign sanctions, modern slavery due to an offensive neo-liberal economy is placing pressure on the people… we are witnessing the result of this pressure in unequal distribution, with skyscrapers in downtown areas of various cities, including provincial capitals and [Tehran]. The [social gap] is very alarming and will most certainly lead to crises…” (Mostaghel daily, April 14)

Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), emphasized that Khamenei and Rouhani refrained from demanding interest on a loan to the people due to their fear of a new uprising in the making. The Iranian people do not seek a handout from the mullahs, Madam Rajavi said, adding the Iranian people’s stolen riches—controlled by the IRGC and foundations controlled by Khamenei, such as Astan-e Quds Razavi—must be taken from the regime and used to provide medical care, hygiene goods and other necessities for the Iranian people, especially those desperately making ends meet and barely have anything to eat.

Iran coronavirus outbreak death toll interactive map

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