Iran: Coronavirus death toll exceeds 22,000 in 246 cities
Regime experts see the Corona curve on the rise, but Rouhani insists on sending people to work
Maryam Rajavi: Khamenei, Rouhani have no regard for people’s lives, health; Their goal is to save their regime from an uprising
On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced that the Coronavirus death toll has surpassed 22,000 in 246 cities across Iran. The number of people who lost their lives in Tehran is 2,900, Qom 2200, Gilan 2,000, Isfahan 1,720, Mazandaran 1,720, Khuzestan 940, Golestan 880, Alborz is 800, Fars 420, Zanjan 390, Yazd 370, Qazvin 350, and North Khorasan 240.
Today, during a cabinet meeting, Hassan Rouhani, while rehashing his previous lies, shamelessly defended his cabinet’s plan to send people back to work. He said, “We are still in the process of controlling the virus outbreak … We are not that anxious. Our hospitals and medical departments are ready. Any hospital that we call they have empty beds and ICUs.”
Acknowledging the regime’s incompetence, Rouhani added, “If we tell people to stay at home because of this contagious disease, it’s the easiest thing for the government to do, but it’s not possible. There are some who are day laborers, if they don’t work one day, they wouldn’t have any income, and they can’t make ends meet… What should we do for them? What should we do for people whose businesses have been closed for the past two months, who have invoices, debts, and rents to pay?… Earlier, our struggle was to stay at home, but now it’s to carry on economic activities. We have no other choice.”
This is while, yesterday, Rouhani’s Health Minister, speaking at the regime’s parliament, said that “We are now in the management phase of the outbreak” and have not yet “controlled and contained the virus. We should not have any illusions or miscalculate things.” Last night, Alireza Zali, head of Tehran’s National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce (NCCT), told the state-run news agency, ISNA, “We don’t see much of the impact of the presence of this population in the city now, and it will show itself after a week or two … The biggest strategic risk is to undermine the preventive measures and increase the traffic. This can lead to major damage in containing the virus.”… In Tehran, in particular, dealing with the outbreak is particularly tricky. The behavior of the virus in large metropolitan areas is more complicated… The risks of this virus are not any less than before,” he added.
Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Goya, Director General of Infectious Diseases at Health Ministry, speaking at NCCT in the presence of Rouhani, also stressed that the spread of Coronavirus is on the rise in most parts of the country. Goya, whose comments were published at the state-run Khabar Network, Pointing to the Corona outbreak chart, he said, “East Azerbaijan is one of our most dangerous provinces, and we expect an increase (in the spread of the virus) in the coming days, West Azerbaijan is among areas where the number of infections is rising. The curve for Ardabil [is high] … Alborz province is now [high] … Tehran’s Province is more worrying than other places. In Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari [and] Khorasan Razavi provinces, the curve is rapidly going up. The same is true for Lorestan Province; Mazandaran Province that was the most troublesome for us. The infection went up quickly?”
The workers, daily contracted laborers, and small business owners, along with the people under their care, whom Khamenei and Rouhani send to the alter of Coronavirus, form the vast majority of the Iranian people. “There are more than 11 million temporary contractor workers in Iran,” said Nahid Tajeddin, a member of the regime’s parliament, on April 6. According to News Network, on April 5, Deputy Minister of Industry and Mines said: “7.5 million of our country’s employees are in the trade sector, and with the support rate they have, about 18-19 million people earn their living on trade.” The state-run Shargh daily reported on April 6 that there are 15 million people with temporary jobs who get paid day by day. Considering their families, they make a total of 40 to 50 million people.
In the meantime, even parliament deputies are beginning to protest. Farhang radio quoted One deputy, Bahram Parsai, on April 7, “In the beginning, there was mismanagement of the flights coming to the country, and no one took responsibility… Institutions and organizations such as the Mostazafan (the Abased) Foundation, the HQ to Execute Imam’s Order, Astan-e Quds Razavi, which have always benefitted from special privileges and enjoyed certain exemptions; should all come and serve the people and give all their assets for two months… Let’s not give wrong figures, the figure of 20,000 empty hospital beds is a fallacy… how can we have so many empty beds? A hospital bed has specific conditions. We cannot call any bed a hospital bed.
Regarding Rouhani’s remarks today, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said: For Khamenei and Rouhani, the lives and well-being of the people are worthless. They only want to protect their regime from the threat of uprising. The criminal decision to send people to work is a crime against humanity and will cause countless number of victims. The deadly impact of this decision is not going to be confined to Iran’s borders and will pose the risk of a new wave of the virus outbreak in the region and other countries.
Ms. Rajavi called for effective international measures and reiterated that vast sums of money belonging to the Iranian people, which have been plundered by various corrupt institutions under the control of Khamenei and the IRGC can pay for the expenses of workers, toilers and wage earners until the Coronavirus crisis is over, and must be removed from the possession of the mullahs and put at the disposal of the Iranian people.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 8, 2020
