Iran’s population in shock; takes on social media to accuse the government of hiding the facts and figures
Iran’s lawmaker and Deputy Health Minister have announced that they have been tested positive for the Coronavirus. The death toll, due to this virus, has risen up to 16, making Iran the state with the highest deaths recorded outside China, where the virus originally emerged, and taking lives of 2,600 people.
Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi shared the unfortunate news with the nation via a video message on the state television. MP Mahmoud Sadeghi announced on twitter that he has been infected by the virus and has very less hope of surviving this outbreak.
The population of Iran is extremely agitated and is accusing the authorities of fabricating the number of people affected and died in the Islamic republic. Local people are worried that the government has been underestimating the outbreak within the country and hasn’t prepared the necessary counter measures. Several people have taken social media to criticise the government in Tehran of hiding the actual facts and figures and suspected that the death toll and number of people quarantined is higher than anticipated. The Health Ministry of Iran has confirmed that that at least 95 people have been infected across the nation.
Iran has been taking a hit on the economic front especially with the pressure it’s receiving from the United States. In 2018, US exited from the Iran nuclear deal involving the nations on the United Nations Security Council plus Germany and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic republic. The country has been facing a series of unprecedented mass protests against the government since November 2019 over hike in fuel prices which eventually became political. Anger among the people rose to new heights over the handling of the Ukrainian civilian plane crash in January, where the military took three days to admit that it was caused by an Iranian missile fired in ‘human error’.
The ‘sudden’ outbreak of the virus and previous incidents of frictions between the people and the authorities have created a major distrust between the two. Amid the outbreak, authorities have advised the citizens of Iran to stay home, shut down schools and universities in some areas and ordered nationwide cancellations of mass events.
