Local reports and messages from Iranians indicate that the number of Iran’s COVID-19 fatalities and infections are much higher than officials have announced.

Iran’s Ministry of Health has put Iran’s COVID-19 fatalities at 19 with 139 infections.

Dr. Mohammad Reza Sohrabi from Tehran's Beheshti University tells state-run TV that the reason behind the low number of infected #COVID19 persons in #Iran is due to a lack of testing kits.

In other words, people aren't even being tested. pic.twitter.com/oI5ygDRNyY — Iran News Wire (@IranNW) February 26, 2020

In an audio file, a woman who was identified as a health worker in Tehran’s Shohada Hospital in Yaft Abad, said that only during her shift, she recorded 17 COVID-19 fatalities at the hospital.

A translation of the audio file can be found below:

“Unfortunately, since the conversations and comments of doctors are being controlled these days, stress is an important element in the spread of COVID-19. What I’m witnessing is that the conditions are much more catastrophic than what is being announced. I swear to God, our hands are shaking. My voice was even shaking today when talking to friends. Yesterday, we were forced to stay in Yaft Abad hospital from morning until evening and we had 17 fatalities. I mean, during the time I was at the hospital, we had 17 fatalities.

How is it possible that at night on the news they announce Iran’s COVID-19 fatalities as eight in the whole country? According to Dr. Tabresi, an infectious disease specialist, the case fatality rate of COVID-19 in Iran is more than 50-60% and a terrible catastrophe is taking place. I don’t know when they want to announce this to the people.

Yesterday, Dr. Tabresi told the hospital staff, residents and interns at Masih Daneshvari Hospital that if anyone wanted to leave, they should leave now because if they stay until the end of the week, they would be quarantined for up to two months. He said that the fatalities are so high that according to him, it was okay to leave.

(Infected) people who were not in contact with anyone else come to the hospital and say that they hadn’t even left their homes. Or they went to a hairdresser and became infected.

Unfortunately, it’s been two days that when I ask about my friends, they are either under a ventilator or they’ve tested positive and their families are falling apart. Families are in a very bad state. They are all depressed and distraught… Please don’t leave your houses if it’s not necessary. Don’t let your kids out of the house.

We had reports of deaths in children. Until now, the lowest (COVID19) numbers are 100 times more than what they’re announcing.”

According to a message from Iran the regime is not taking any precautions in the burial of those who have died from COVID-19.

“My uncle, who had a history of lung problems, passed away and he tested positive for COVID-19. They gave us his body but there were no protocols for proper burial. They told us to bury him in Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery,” a Tehran resident, who identified himself as Mohammad Amin said.

“My uncle’s family who had come in contact with him this whole time have not been quarantined and have not even been tested. They told us there was no need for testing,” he added.

A resident at Khomeini Hospital in the southwestern city of Ahvaz said that a patient with COVID-19 was transferred from the hospital to Razi hospital in Rasht. “They then announced that no one has tested positive in Khuzestan Province,” he added.

“The patient had come in contact with hospital staff and other patients without any protection,” the resident said adding that these cover-ups were deadlier than the virus.

Another message said that a 45-year-old patient died in Farabi Hospital in the central city of Isfahan. “It was clear from his lung images that he was suffering from COVID-19 but his death was registered as something else.”

Noshahr, N #Iran

Dr. Taghvaie: Too late to prevent #COVID19 outbreak.

Lack of suitable quarantine in Noshahr hospital.

We've had fatalities. Officials announce cause of death as something other than #coronavirus.

Lung images show corona positive.

Lack of nurses and doctors. pic.twitter.com/3Usxu97mdt — Iran News Wire (@IranNW) February 26, 2020

A medical student from the northern city of Rasht, which is the second in terms of the outbreak after Qom, painted a very grave picture of conditions at Razi Hospital.

“They send us medical students without gloves and masks to tend to patients. We protested and went on strike and told them to give us equipment and protection, but they threatened to fire us,” the medical student said.

“We don’t have testing kits or equipment… We’re the first ones who tend to patients and they told us that if they had masks, they would give them to the nurses first. If we get infected and our families get infected, then what?!” he said.

Medical students at Razi Hospital were told that “this is a war and you are soldiers”.

The student said that all the professors were at home and refused to come to the hospital.

“This is murder. This is a crime,” the student added.