Coronavirus: Iran's deputy health minister tests positive as outbreak worsens
Iran's deputy health minister has
tested positive for the new coronavirus disease, as it struggles to
contain an outbreak that has killed 15 people.
A health ministry spokesman confirmed that Iraj Harirchi was infected with Covid-19 and under quarantine.President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile urged Iranians not to panic, saying: "We will get through the virus."
Officials have reported 95 confirmed cases since last week, but the actual number is thought to be far higher.
The World Health Organization has said the sudden increase in cases in the country is "deeply concerning".
The regional director of the UN agency was due to fly to Iran on Tuesday, but his departure was delayed.
A WHO spokeswoman said it was finalising the dates of a separate visit to Iran by a technical mission and was also sending medical supplies and additional testing kits that should arrive in the next day or two.
Conflict between religion and science
By Rana Rahimpour, BBC PersianThe reports that we are receiving from cities around Iran suggest that the number of cases is actually much higher than the Iranian authorities are giving.
Unlike in Italy, Iranian officials are refusing to impose quarantines in areas affected by the outbreak. They say quarantines are old-fashioned and that they do not believe in them.
The Shia shrines in the cities of Qom and Mashhad are still open, despite Qom being a hotbed of the virus.
There are grand ayatollahs in Qom who believe that its shrine, which attracts millions of pilgrims from around the world, and its important seminary, which hosts many foreign religious students, are the pride of the Shia world.
ran also lacks the medical equipment it needs to help contain the outbreak. It has run out of masks and does not have enough testing kits.
A number of medical workers have also been infected, so there is a worry that they will soon run out of doctors and nurses to attend to those with the disease.
The majority of Iranians are extremely worried.
Mr Harirchi's positive test for Covid-19 was announced a day after he took part in a televised news conference, during which he coughed and appeared to be sweating.
At the briefing he denied a claim by a member of parliament for Qom, the city at the centre of Iran's outbreak, that the authorities were engaged in a cover-up.
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