Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, member of Iran’s National COVID-19 Task Force and an epidemiologist, in an interview with the state-run Jahan-e-Sanat newspaper on 8 August,
regarding the engineering of the coronavirus statistics, confirmed previous speculations that the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, like many other issues, has been a political-security issue since its inception.
According to information provided to Jahan-e-Sanat by this member of the COVID-19 Task Force, the actual number of the coronavirus casualties is 20 times higher than what is announced by the Ministry of Health.
He told the Jahan-e-Sanat daily that the disagreement and the disputes between the members of the COVID-19 Task Force and the cabinet were serious and that the decrease in the number of casualties in recent days had created a temporary and false optimism for the government and the people.
Mahboobfar: “Exactly one month before the official announcement of the advent of coronavirus in the country, in early December, the first patient with the virus was observed. But at that time, the government hid for political and security reasons, and after the 1979 revolution anniversary ceremony and the parliamentary elections, the government finally decided to announce the existence of the coronavirus in the country.
“Unfortunately, there was no transparent information to the public from the beginning. Certainly, this statistic has been engineered since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. In any case, these statistics are injected into a society based on political and security considerations. In my opinion, the statistics announced by the Ministry of Health (number of patients and deaths) are one-twentieth of the real statistics.”
About the critical situation he said: “In my opinion, all gatherings should be canceled until further notice, including family gatherings, religious occasions, weddings, and mourning. If we proceed in the same way in the month of Muharram, we will see an increase in the number of deaths in September.
“When the president says that Muharram mourning can be held in a glorious manner, regardless of the opinion of health experts, it means that the conflict between the members of the COVID-19 Task Force and the Cabinet are serious, despite the fact that many people want to cancel national entrance exams or and demand the mourning ceremonies through the internet, apparently, the interests of some are such that they have pressured the government not to impose some restrictions.” (Jahan Sanat, 8 August)
Statistics provided until noon Sunday, August 9
Meanwhile, Sima Lari, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, announced the number of victims as 163 on Sunday, August 9, and the total number of victims as 18,427.
On the other hand, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) announced the number of victims as of noon on Sunday, 85,500. Mahboobfar’s remarks seem to indicate that the statistics provided by the NCRI are closer to reality.
According to reports, the regime continues to strictly prevent the news of the distribution of coronavirus statistics by the hospitals.
On August 8, a medical staff member from a hospital in Tehran said, “The number of patients in the coronavirus equilibrium department is different every day, and on average we have between 20 and 30 new patients admitted daily, especially patients who have very critical and acute conditions.
“In the coronavirus equilibrium section, which is dedicated to coronavirus, we have at least 5 deaths a day. Also, in other wards of the hospital, there are many deaths due to coronavirus, but for another reason, they record something in the file, and they do not provide their statistics to the rest of the staff and are working secretly.”
UPDATE: After the disclosure about the coronavirus statistics that are just one-twentieth of the real statistics, the interview with Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, and the publication of the particular article as part of it are in the text above, the state-run Jahan-e-Sanat daily was seized by the regime.
Source » irannewsupdate