Tehran: Iran puts its armed forces on alert to assist health officials in battling coronavirus that has killed at least 77 people, an outbreak that has sickened top officials and pushed even its supreme leader into wearing disposable gloves while trying to reassure the nation.
Even as government officials sit meters away from each other at meetings now in an effort to stop its spread, the virus is ravaging both its civilian leadership and its Shiite theocracy. A top emergency official and at least 23 members of parliament reportedly contracted the virus and now suffer from COVID-19.
There are now over 2,540 cases of the new virus across the Mideast, with 2,336 in Iran alone. Of those outside Iran in the region, most link back to the Islamic Republic.
Experts worry Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, now around 3.3%, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be far greater than current figures show. Meanwhile, a gloved Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to minimize the virus while praising the doctors and nurses combating the outbreak. He urged the nation to pray.
“This disaster, in our opinion, is not such a big disaster, there have been and there are bigger disasters than this," Khamenei said.
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“Of course I don't want to downplay the issue, but let's not exaggerate it much either. Something has happened, it will exist in the country for a time, which hopefully will be short, and then it will go away.”
Iran stands alone in how the virus has affected its government, even compared to hard-hit China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Worldwide, the virus has infected 90,000 people and caused 3,100 deaths.
The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi on Monday makes him the highest-ranking official within Iran’s leadership to be killed by the virus. State media referred to him as a confidant of Khamenei.
The virus earlier killed Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, as well as a recently elected member of parliament. Ahmad Tuyserkani, an adviser to Iran's judiciary chief.
Those sick include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill.
On Tuesday, lawmaker Abdolreza Mesri told Iranian state television’s Young Journalists Club program that 23 members of parliament had the coronavirus. He urged all lawmakers to avoid the public.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency also reported that Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the country's emergency services, had come down with the new virus. It said he was undergoing treatment.
(With inputs from AP)
