As the number of people died of the novel coronavirus is increasing in Iran, the regime is trying its utmost to keep the real coronavirus death toll down.
The regime Health Ministry dedicates its daily report of victims only to those individuals who die in hospitals and had tested positive for COVID-19. This report neglects the large number of people dying outside of hospitals, and especially in villages, and the colossal number of people who have not been tested.
Numerous reports have emerged in the past few weeks showing that death certificates for many coronavirus victims indicate “respiratory complications”, “pneumonia”, or “flu” instead of COVID-19 as cause of death.
Medical sources in Karaj, a major city located west of Tehran, say the hundreds of people have died of the virus in the city alone and cases that are registered as deaths due to severe respiratory illnesses or heart failures are actually COVID-19 fatalities.
“More than 20 people are dying on a daily basis in Alborz Province and if we add those individuals who die without their cause of death registered, these numbers reach 30 each day”, one of the sources said.
One physician in Tehran’s Baghiatollah Hospital have said at least four out of five people dying of coronavirus are registered as severe respiratory disorders. Many COVID-19 patients who suffer a heart attack or can no longer breathe are registered as deaths due to heart attacks. Many other coronavirus patients are released from hospitals prior to their recovery and without taking any precautions, which leads to even further spread of the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, a letter by a health official leaked to social media April 8, showed that for obtaining death certificates “for Covid-19 victims or people suspected of having died because of coronavirus” families must contact the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in addition to the health ministry.
More than 26,200 people have died of the novel coronavirus so far in 266 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces. The number is increasing day by day.
Videos shared on social media have shown bodies piled up in mortuaries and mass graves being prepared for the victims.
رسانههای محلی قم خبر از بازداشت فرد منتشر کننده اين تصاویر غسالخانه بهشت معصومه قم را دادهاند#HumanRights #Iran pic.twitter.com/AEDtXv6yk8
— مانيتورينگ حقوق بشر ایران (@Iran_HRM) March 3, 2020
Khaf, Khorasan Razavi Province, NE #Iran
Mass graves prepared for #coronavirus victims. Authorities have not shut down a mine in the city, putting the lives of its workers at risk of contracting #COVID19 #CoronavirusPandemic https://t.co/RvDybhiyoU— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) March 12, 2020
Mojtaba Yazdani, deputy municipality chief in Tehran, said a new section in the famous Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery has been allocated for coronavirus victims and “10,000 new graves” have been prepared. A 40-foot long refrigerator, two other such facilities, two 12-meter long refrigerator containers and crisis silos, equipment and supplies have been prepared, according to a report wired by the state-run IRNA news on Sunday, April 12.
Speaking to the state-run IRNA news agency on Sunday, Mojtaba Yazdani said isolated facilities for washing of bodies before burial were also being installed in crisis shelters previously built on the grounds of the cemetery.
Iranian officials have so far not revealed the number of coronavirus victims in the country presumably on national security grounds.
