According to official numbers announced by Iran’s government – 9,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of March 11, with 354 deaths – Iran is the third-hardest-hit country in the world, after China and Italy. But regional officials are reporting higher rates in their own areas, and publicly questioning the statistics being announced by the Health Ministry. Medical staff in Iran told the FRANCE 24 Observers that hospital administrators have instructed doctors treating patients who die from the coronavirus to list other causes – such as pneumonia and pulmonary embolism – on official death reports.



The first signs of an epidemic in Iran, like in China, emerged on social networks. Doctors in the holy city of Qom in mid-February noted an uptick in patients with severe pulmonary problems. As early as February 2, Iranians were posting videos of medical workers in protective suits escorting patients, asking whether the coronavirus had arrived in Iran.



Iranian officials initially denied the virus had reached Iran. Some hardliner activists denounced "rumours" about the coronavirus, saying they were part of a plot by opposition groups to discourage people from voting in the February 21 parliamentary election.



The first official statement about COVID-19 reaching Iran came on February 19, when the Health Ministry announced two cases in Qom. The ministry said later the same day that both patients had died.





This video circulating on Twitter and Telegram shows at least 56 body bags awaiting burial at a facility at the main cemetery in Qom. The man filming the video says: “I’m here at the Qom graveyard. Today is March 2. All of these people died of the coronavirus. Their bodies are waiting to be ritually washed before burial. There are lots of them." At 0:47 in the video, he says: "The bodies in this room have been here for five or six days, but they still haven’t been buried. The situation is horrible." The deputy prosecutor general of Qom said March 5 that the man who filmed the video was later arrested.



As the official toll mounted, local officials started to question the central government’s count. An MP from Rasht, capital of northwestern Gilan province, said February 28 that the number of coronavirus victims buried at three of the city’s cemeteries was "much higher than what is being reported". The MP, Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Iman Abadi, added: "The statistics presented so far are not true. Cemeteries do not lie."



Farhad Zahed, vice president of the Rasht city council, March 10 appealed to the central government: "Why are you hiding the reality? To avoid panic? No. We have to tell people what’s really going on, so they take it seriously."



This photo, posted on Twitter and Telegram accounts on February 10, shows medical workers at the main cemetery in Rasht, Gilan province, preparing bodies of COVID-19 victims for burial. Officials in the city have accused Iran’s government of underreporting the real number of COVID-19 deaths in the country.



Aliakbar Motezaei, governor of Kashan county in Iran’s central Isfahan Province, told a local television channel March 9 that the city of Kashan (population 400,000) and one suburb had had a total of 1,056 COVID-19 cases and 88 deaths since the outbreak began. Official reports record only 601 cases and two deaths in the entire Isfahan province (population five million).



News that at least 23 members of Iran’s 290-seat parliament, 8 per cent of the total, have contracted the virus has raised questions about why the officially reported rate in the general population is much lower.





'Hospitals hide COVID-19 deaths by lying in their reports'Melody (not her real name) is an emergency room doctor at a hospital in a city 200km east of Tehran. The official COVID-19 death toll in Melody’s city was four as of March 10. Melody told the FRANCE 24 Observers that there had been at least eight deaths at her hospital alone. Like other medical personnel interviewed for this article, she asked for anonymity. Medical staff in Iran have been told not to talk to the media about the COVID-19 outbreak.



We’ve had fatal coronavirus cases in our city for three weeks, since mid-February. But it was only on March 2 that the government announced the first death in our city. In the last two weeks, at least eight people have died at our hospital alone because of the coronavirus.



Hospitals hide COVID-19 deaths by lying in their death reports. Our managers tell us to list coronavirus deaths as “pneumonia”, “tuberculosis” or even “heart attack” in our reports.



The two main hospitals in our city are full of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. There are COVID-19 patients in every hospital of the city. However if you look at the official reports, you would think our city is doing fine.

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