Health and Hygiene

RFL/RE – The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 165,000 with more than 2.4 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 Iran has further loosened coronavirus restrictions, opening intercity highways and shopping malls …

Radiofarda – President Donald Trump questioned the coronavirus pandemic numbers announced by China and Iran in his daily press briefing on April 18, asking “Does anyone believe” these numbers? After more than a month from the acceleration of the pandemic in the West, the numbers China has officially announced are very low compared to countries such as Italy, Spain, France …

Radiofarda – Alireza Zali, the official in charge of the task force to fight coronavirus in Tehran says one third of COVID-19 fatalities and infections in Iran is taking place in the capital. Meanwhile, speaking on the first day of re-opening most small businesses in Iran, Zali attributed many infection cases to the use of pubic transport. Deputy health minister …

CHRI – UN human rights experts* today called on Iran to expand its temporary release of thousands of detainees to include prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals still being held despite serious risk of COVID-19 infection. The country has been hit hard by COVID-19, with Health Ministry officials reporting one person dies every 10 minutes from the virus. …

AP — The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus pandemic is likely nearly double the officially reported figures, due to undercounting and because not everyone with breathing problems has been tested for the virus, a parliament report said. Iranian health officials offered no comment on the report, which represents the highest-level charge yet from within the Islamic Republic’s government …

Radiofarda – The Free Trade Union of Workers in Iran has reported that a member of its board of directors, Ms. Nahid Khodajo, was summoned to Tehran’s Evin Prison, to serve her sentence amid the coronavirus crisis. Deploring the decision, the April 16 statement says the Evin Court of Appeals has given Ms. Khodajoo five days to surrender herself to …

Radiofarda – Referring to concerns over the novel coronavirus outbreak in the Islamic Republic prisons, a lawyer defending political prisoners says fear is dominating Qarchak detention center and calls for urgent action. Qarchak Prison, located in a remote desert, 39 kilometers (about 24 miles) east of Tehran, is known as the most dangerous and worst prison in Iran for its …

HRW – Syria’s health care system has been decimated by war, as have Yemen’s and Libya’s. The Middle East has large populations of refugees and migrants at risk during the pandemic. Then there are the poor who, if they can’t work because of a lockdown, won’t have food to eat. Acting Middle East and North Africa (MENA) director Eric Goldstein …

CHRI – Physicians in Iran including university officials have been reprimanded including by way of prosecution for publicizing information about the country’s COVID-19 outbreak that contradicts officials’ statements, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Iran’s Health Ministry had reported 74,877 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 4,683 deaths at the time of this writing …

Al-Monitor – “We are playing a chess game with the coronavirus,” said Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki, speaking on the complications Iran is facing in its ongoing fight against the virus. According to an updated government report, at least three of the 31 Iranian provinces — among them Qom, which served as the initial epicenter — are currently grappling with a resurgence of the …