Iran has nearly 67,000 people with coronavirus symptoms – report

Islamic Republic is epicenter of the virus outbreak in the Middle East

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Members of firefighters wear protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as they disinfect the streets, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 18, 2020. (photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
Members of firefighters wear protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as they disinfect the streets, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 18, 2020.
(photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
BERLIN – Iran has hospitalized 66,657 people with coronavirus symptoms, Radio Farda reported Sunday.
The Iranian regime says it has tested 35,000 people for the virus.
Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said 4,298 people have died due to the virus. Tehran says 2,500 people have died.
The Islamic Republic is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.
The Iranian regime has faced accusations that it is deceiving the public about the spread of the disease and measures to protect it.
Iranian Health Ministry officials stress that “their data is based on administered coronavirus tests, and they exclude those who have just clinical symptoms of the COVID-19 but are not tested for the virus. Due to unavailability of enough test kits, this could considerably keep the numbers low,” Radio Farda reported.
“Radio Farda’s data is based on the figures given away by central and local officials and the number of people who have had symptoms of the deadly disease across the country,” the report said.
“The data collected by Radio Farda is also a very conservative estimate, and the real number of the victims could be much higher,” it said. “The data shows that most of the novel coronavirus victims belong to the provinces of Isfahan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran and Qom.”
Iran refuses to release the number of coronavirus victims for each of the country’s 31 provinces.
Some 16,100 people have been hospitalized in the past month in the province of Tehran, and at least 826 have died of the virus, Radio Farda reported.