Health and Hygiene

Radiofarda – A member of Tehran’s City Council has revealed that during the first two months of the coronavirus outbreak the overall death toll in Iran’s capital increased by 3,700, compared with the same period last year. Iranian officials have not released the epidemic toll in Tehran, but the nationwide death toll they have announced is just 6,000; too low …

RFL/RE – Iran’s Health Ministry has announced that religious shrines will remain closed in what appears to be a blow to influential hard-line clerics who are pushing for the sites to reopen amid efforts to contain one of the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.“Until there’s full assurance that pilgrims to religious sites will not face problems, we won’t allow ourselves …

Radiofarda – The Spokesman of Iran’s Armed Forces on Tuesday said Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (Police) and the Revolutionary Guard’s militia arm (Basij) have arrested 3,600 individuals for “spreading rumors about coronavirus”. Speaking on a live news program on Channel 2 of Iran’s state-run television Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that rumors are a means of psychological war against Iran …

Radiofarda – An Iranian Health Ministry deputy on Monday said lifting coronavirus restrictions on businesses does not mean “going back to normal” and can be reversed if the number of infections and deaths go up. Since April 12 Iran has started relaxing lockdown measures and allowed some factories, businesses, malls, arcades and parks to open to the public amid fears …

Al-Arabia – In Iran, the regime’s belated and inadequate coronavirus response was the behavior of an illegitimate regime that prioritized its own survival over public health, according to experts. Having quickly emerged in January as the epicenter of the disease in the Middle East, the government covered up news of the outbreak, was late to respond, and is accused of massively underreporting the spread …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Iran’s covert disinformation operations concerning COVID-19 are not only aimed at inciting hatred toward the US; they are also, it seems, aimed at negatively impacting the international community’s efforts to fight the virus. Whenever social media accounts or websites linked to the Iranian regime’s disinformation campaigns are exposed and removed, the Islamic Republic seems to find other outlets …

Radiofarda – A senior Iranian Health Ministry official says the coronavirus epidemic in Iran has still not reached its peak, meaning the number of infections and deaths are still on the rise. Nevertheless, in what has been described by Presidential adviser Hesamoddin Ashna as “one of the most difficult meetings on the situation of the outbreak,” President Hassan Rouhani explained …

Iran-HRM – A health official, said that four anesthesiologists have died recently at Tehran’s Masih Daneshvari Hospital.Deputy director of education and research at the Medical System Organization, announced on Sunday, May 27, that four anesthesiologists have died of the coronavirus at Masih Daneshvari Hospital.Speaking with the state-run ILNA news agency, Alireza Salimi said: “Unfortunately, the statistics are very high. In …

Iran-HRM – The coronavirus outbreak in Ardabil prison has endangered the lives of prisoners.A prisoner held at Ardebil Prison who was suspected of having contracted Covid-19 was taken to to the city’s Khomeini Hospital on Wednesday, April 22. Two days earlier, the inmate had been taken to the prison’s clinic with Covid-19 symptoms. But he was only checked for fever …

RFL/RE – The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 205,000 with nearly 3 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness. Here’s a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL’s broadcast regions. Iran Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on April 26 that health officials are launching …