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Radiofarda – Half of the respondents to a poll by the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) have lost some of their income as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 50% of the respondents to the poll have said that their income has been affected. While 13.5% have lost their jobs, 41.7% say they had to shut down their businesses. Only 26.3% said their income has not changed while 0.6% have reported an increase in their income.
The poll was taken by telephone from April 13 to 16 by ISPA and all respondents (1,563) were 18 and above.
Of all the respondents 48.6% said they were not in a position to help others financially and 34.7% have donated money or food to others who have lost their income.
The government has announced that Iranian families can take out a 10 million rial loan (about $65) and is paying 2,000,000 to 6,000,000 rials aid to three million low-income families.
Iran’s official coronavirus death toll rose to 5,118 on Sunday but the daily death toll has been going down in the past few days.
Last week the government allowed partial re-opening of businesses and President Hassan Rouhani has said that more low-risk businesses will be allowed to open soon. Many say it is still too early to go back to normal business and the government decision may put more lives at risk.SEE ALSO:Khamenei’s Website Raising Donations To Aid Those Hit By COVID-19
ISPA has also published the results of a separate poll in Tehran in which more than 80% of the residents of the capital said they were very concerned or extremely concerned about the pandemic. The capital Tehran remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak with one in every three infections and deaths taking place there.
According to Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi more than one quarter of infections by COVID-19 in Iran take place while people are using public transport such as the underground (metro) and buses.
