Tehran rejects claim death toll is more than four times higher than official figures suggest

The Iranian government has denied trying to cover up the full extent of an outbreak of the coronavirus, as Italy reported six deaths and officials across the Middle East and Europe scrambled to limit its spread.

On Monday, a lawmaker from Qom – a Shia holy city 75 miles (120 km) south of the capital, Tehran, accused Iran’s health minister of lying about the scale of the outbreak.

According to the semi-official Ilna news agency, which is close to reformists, the lawmaker, Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, said there had been 50 deaths from the coronavirus in Qom alone.

Quick guide What are coronavirus symptoms and should I go to a doctor? Show Hide What is Covid-19? Covid-19 is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic. What are the symptoms this coronavirus causes? According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and aches and pains or diarrhoea. Some people report losing their sense of taste and/or smell. About 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment. About one in six people, the WHO says, become seriously ill. The elderly and people with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or chronic respiratory conditions, are at a greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19. In the UK, the National health Service (NHS) has identified the specific symptoms to look for as experiencing either: a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back

a new continuous cough - this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work, and there is currently no vaccine. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Should I go to the doctor if I have a cough? Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities. In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.

“The rest of the media have not published this figure, but we prefer not to censor what concerns the coronavirus because people’s lives are in danger,” the Ilna editor Fatemeh Madiani told Agence France-Presse.

But the country’s deputy health minister rejected the report. In a news conference broadcast live on state television, Iraj Harirchi said 12 people had died from the coronavirus and 66 had been infected. “I categorically deny this information,” he said, adding: “This is not the time for political confrontations. The coronavirus is a national problem.”

Elsewhere in the Middle East on Monday, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq reported their first cases – all involving people who had come from Iran. In Italy, which has become the focal point of the outbreak in Europe, officials said 219 people had tested positive and the death toll was raised to six.

Iran’s government pledged to be transparent about the outbreak. “We will announce any figures [we have] on the number of deaths throughout the country. We pledge to be transparent about the reporting of figures,” the spokesman Ali Rabiei said.

Iran has been scrambling to contain the Covid-19 outbreak since it announced the first two deaths in Qom on Wednesday last week. Since then, it has said 12 people have died from the virus among 61 infections.

Authorities have closed schools across much of the country for a second day, as neighbouring countries reported infections from travellers from Iran, prompting several to shut their borders to Iranian citizens.

The number of deaths compared with the number of confirmed infections from the virus is higher in Iran than in any other country, including China and South Korea, where the outbreak is far more widespread.

Iranian health officials have not said whether health workers in Qom who first came in contact with infected people had taken precautionary measures in treating those who died of the virus. Iran also has not said how many people are in quarantine across the country overall.

On Sunday, experts warned that the disease was outpacing attempts to contain it.

“The tipping point after which our ability to prevent a global pandemic ends seems a lot closer after the past 24 hours,” said Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia and an authority on the new coronavirus.

Hunter said the situation in Iran would have major implications for the Middle East.

“It is unlikely that Iran will have the resources and facilities to adequately identify cases and adequately manage them if case numbers are large,” he said.

“A further problem with the Iranian cases is wider armed conflicts in the region. During armed conflicts borders between countries become porous and urban and healthcare facilities are often targeted and destroyed. As we have seen with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and poliomyelitis in Syria, war facilitates the spread of infectious disease and hampers public health responses.”

Italian authorities are also rushing to contain the continent’s first major outbreak of the disease after a sixth death in the country. Italy has so far recorded 219 confirmed cases, the most of any European country.

The Italian government has introduced stringent internal travel restrictions, closing off the worst-hit areas in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto. About 50,000 people in 11 north Italian towns have been under lockdown since Friday night, with police patrolling the streets and fines being imposed on anyone caught entering or leaving outbreak areas.

World is approaching coronavirus tipping point, say experts Read more

France’s junior transport minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said on Monday that there was no need to close down transport borders between France and Italy.

“Closing down the borders would make no sense, as the circulation of the virus is not just limited to administrative borders,” he told BFM Business.

The government urged anyone who had visited Lombardy or Veneto to wear face masks if they go outside, limit non-essential activities and take their temperatures twice a day.

A spokesman for Germany’s interior ministry said the country would not be closing its borders. A health ministry spokesman said the danger to the German population from coronavirus remained low but added that the assessment could change at short notice.

Austria suspended train services over the Alps to Italy for about four hours late on Sunday before restarting them after two travellers tested negative for coronavirus. A train carrying about 300 passengers from Venice in Italy to Munich in Germany was halted on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass before being allowed to continue its journey after the two tested negative, authorities said.