Over the last few days IranWire has received numerous messages about the coronavirus outbreak in Iran. On the morning of February 28, an IranWire reader sent IranWire screenshots from a conversation with a coronavirus patient. The messages show that the patient is quarantined in a hospital. The name of the city and the hospital have been blacked out and the name of the patient has been removed to protect his identity, but the conversation, like many other conversations about coronavirus very familiar to Iranians at the moment, remains shocking.

“In this hospital alone, around eight die each day,” says the patient. “They are very young — 24 years old, 29, 36, 37.” The latest figures released by the Iranian Health Ministry puts the total number of coronavirus infections at 388 and the number of deaths at 34.

In another part of the conversation, the patient mentions a shortage of facilities in hospitals and the quarantine ward. When asked, “didn’t they say that some have recovered?” the patient replies, “some recover but some die and they lack equipment.” He explains that when 15 people are sent to the ICU at the hospital, there is no room left for anybody else. If a patient’s condition becomes critical they do not tend to him on time: “They come too late. The patient cannot breathe and it is the end. Yesterday a young man died and his family tore the hospital apart.”

The patient also talks about his own condition, and says that he constantly asks the doctors and the nurses whether he is going to live or die. When asked how he is doing, he says with uncertainty, “Don’t know,” and then adds: “I am coughing less and they tell me that I am getting better. The doctor just left me. ‘Not going to die?’ I said. ‘If you were going to die you would be feeling worse,’ he said.”

He also mentions the shortage of quarantine hospitals. “There are so many patients that they are four hospitals short,” he says.

On February 28, the National Headquarters to Fight Coronavirus held its fifth meeting and Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced that schools will remain closed for another three days. He also said that they were also considering reducing the working hours and shifts of government employees.

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Are you feeling any better?

No, I am coughing all the time. My chest is exploding.

But I laughed a lot. The nurse says that I have gone mad.

Say yes.

These numbers that they announce about the number of the dead, are they nonsense?

Yes. Just in this hospital, about eight die each day.

There are so many patients.

Really?

They are short four hospitals again.

Eight a day?

Yes, I swear. Many young people die. 24-year-old, 29-year old, 37, 36.

Then what about those who they say have recovered?

The nurse come and goes and I tell her: “I am going to die, too.” And she says, “You are not going to die.”

Yes, there are recoveries but there are deaths, too.

They don’t have facilities. For example, if 15 [patients] go to the ICU there is no space left for others.

They come too late. The patient’s breathing stops and he is gone.

Yesterday a young man died. His family tore the hospital apart.

A day later….

Yesterday I cried so much that I went blind.

Are you feeling better now?

Don’t know…They say I am getting better. I am coughing a little less.

My doctor just left. “Not going to die?” I said. “If you were going to die you would be feeling worse, not better,” he said.