Iran: Coronavirus death toll rises to 18,600 in 242 cities
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced today, April 5, 2020, that the Coronavirus have fatalities exceeded 18,600 in 242 cities across Iran. The number of victims in Tehran is 2,350, Qom 1,900, Khorasan Razavi 1,450, Alborz 700, Kermanshah 580, Hamedan 530, West Azerbaijan 390, Kerman 320, Semnan 290, East Azerbaijan 240, and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari 70. Eyewitnesses in each city and province, reported by, MEK Resistance Units, Simaye-Azadi (Resistance) TV reporters, supporters of the MEK and the Iranian Resistance in Iran have reported these figures to the MEK Social Headquarters inside the country, which has in turn doublechecked and compiled them. Obviously, these figures do not include all the victims nationwide. The actual number for the whole county and all cities and villages is much higher.
In its daily and false report, the regime’s Health Ministry limits the death toll to those victims who have died in hospitals and have tested positive for Coronavirus. In other words, those who have died outside hospitals, especially in rural areas, and those who have not been tested are not included in the official figures. Furthermore, many of the victims are buried with acute respiratory illness reported as the cause of death, a pseudonym for Coronavirus. Horrific facts and reports are being received from Qom, which points to several thousand deaths. These reports are under further investigation and corroboration.
Yesterday, the spokesman for the regime’s Health Ministry declared a red alert for East Azerbaijan, Fars, Mazandaran, Isfahan, and Khorasan Razavi provinces. Today, he extended that status to Tehran as well. “No provinces are considered white as it relates to the Coronavirus outbreak,” he said. Mahmoud Nouri, deputy director of treatment at Yazd University of Medical Sciences, spoke of “an increase in the number of critically ill patients in recent days, adding “97 of them are in the ICU.” The director of public relations of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences also acknowledged that 90 medical staff from East Azerbaijan had contracted Coronavirus.
Nevertheless, Hassan Rouhani brazenly declared: “We have white (virus-free) provinces in the south of the country where there are no problems for schools to open. Bushehr, Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces … can start their activities.” Rouhani set April 11 as the start date for low risk “businesses,” and “economic activities.” He said, “We are using a step-by-step process to reopen the services.” “Starting from next week, the offices will start working with 2/3 of their employees, and a third is allowed to stay at home.”
This is while in recent days, the regime’s Health Minister, the “Healthcare Organization,” as well as many regime officials, have warned against resuming administrative and financial activities. Yesterday, Seyed Hassan Inanlou, deputy director of treatment at Alborz University of Medical Sciences, warned, that if people pursue their ordinary livings due to financial reasons, “The disease will explode, hospitals will be overloaded with patients, we will lose control, and won’t be able to manage the outbreak.” He suggested that “a million people will die.”
Meanwhile, the National Organization for Civil Registration, which is part of the Interior Ministry, announced: “Until further notice, It will cease cooperation with the Health Ministry and will suspend the provision of personal information to the Ministry since the Ministry has failed to upload the information properly and professionally and has not complied with the terms of the memorandum of understanding in registering the information.” This is yet another attempt to hide the growing number of victims and the disclosure of the actual statistics.
Rouhani, on the other hand, claimed that “There is no disagreement between government agencies. Unlike (our) enemies and counterrevolutionaries, who invite people to choose between health and financial activities, both financial activities and health protocols can be implemented together. There are no conflicts between the Ministries of Industry, Mine and Trade, and Health, nor between other ministries.”
“They find something from someplace and then publicize it through foreign media which in turn amplify it,” Rouhani said in a tacit reference to the Iranian Resistance revelations.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said in this regard, “The regime is terrified of the truth. The criminal decision by (the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei and (his President Hassan) Rouhani to order the people back to work will result in countless victims. Rouhani’s directive to resume ‘business and economic activities’ endangers the health of millions of Iranians. Contrary to universally-recognized standards, instead of providing the minimum means of subsistence to the Iranian people by using the funds in economic entities controlled by Khamenei and IRGC, which have been stolen from the Iranian nation in the first place, the mullahs’ regime is sending the Iranian people to the altar of Coronavirus. Incompetence, pilfering, and tremendous class differences under the ruling theocracy aggravate the scope of the catastrophe every day.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
April 5, 2020
