Health and Hygiene

Radiozmaneh – Political prisoners in the Greater Tehran Prison System have started a mass hunger strike to demand being released from prisons due to the rapid spread of coronavirus infections in Iran. Some inmates have tested positive inside Iranian overpopulated prisons. The prison authorities are only transferring inmates from ward to ward as a solution and not implementing the social …

Al-Monitor – A team of nine doctors deployed to Iran by international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders — known by its French acronym, MSF — is expected to head back home without even starting its relief operations aimed at containing the novel coronavirus outbreak. “While we offer our gratitude to MSF, with the national mobilization plan in place and all medical …

Radiofarda – Under apparent pressure from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and ultraconservative allies of the country’s Supreme Leader, Tehran has rejected the offer of medical help by a team sent by the renowned international non-governmental group, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders. Earlier on March 22, MSF had sent a consignment of medical aid to Iran, …

Al-Monitor – As Iranians were preparing to put behind them a bitter year full of sorrowful events, the coronavirus appeared as an unexpected and unwanted guest, destroying their plans to celebrate the Persian new year on March 21. Though the Iranian public expects the government to place cities with high concentrations of coronavirus cases under quarantine, President Hassan Rouhani has refrained from …

Radiofarda – In a surprising admission, Iran’s deputy health minister said Sunday that 26,000 people infected with the coronavirus are currently hospitalized and another 26,000 had the virus who either recovered, discharged or died. That is more than double the official figure announced on the same day. The data presented by Qassem Janbabaei show that since the novel coronavirus outbreak …

Radiofarda – The Spokeswoman of the U.S. Department of State Morgan Ortagus has strongly refuted Khamenei’s repetition of allegations that the United States created the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) which she referred to as the “Wuhan Virus”. On March 23 in a speech broadcast live to the nation, Khamenei turned down the United States’ offer of help in dealing with the coronavirus …

Radiofarda – Iran’s former health minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi says he warned top officials about the dangers of novel coronavirus last year, but they did not heed his advice. He also lambasted the Islamic Republic authorities for their “mismanagement” of the deadly virus crisis in the country. “Since late December, I was warning about the spread of the coronavirus and …

Al-Monitor – Religious sites in Iran have never before been closed — even during the war with Iraq — yet with the spread of the novel coronavirus across the country, infecting tens of thousands and killing hundreds every week, things have changed. The decision by Iran’s Interior Ministry to close all the shrines in Qom, Mashhad and Tehran has stirred mixed feelings among Iranians, assuring …

Radiofarda – Data gathered by Radio Farda from various national and local media in Iran quoting local authorities and Health Ministry officials indicate that the coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll in the country is at least 660 more than the officially announced tally on March 21. On Saturday in his daily announcement Dr. Kianoush Jahanpour, Spokesman of Iran’s Health Ministry, said …

Iran-HRM – Prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection rebelled in two western Iranian prisons, some managing to escape. Friday night, March 20, 2020, prisoners in the Central Prison of Aligoudarz, in the western province of Lorestan, rebelled and disarmed some of prison guards, attempting to escape.  Clashes ensued between guards and prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection, extending outside the …