Coronavirus: Iran death toll reportedly hits 50 as Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq announce first cases
- A report from Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency said on Monday 50 people had died from the Covid-19 disease in the city of Qom
- Kuwait, Bahrain Afghanistan, and Iraq also confirmed their first novel coronavirus cases, health ministries in the three countries announced
A staggering 50 people have died in the Iranian city of Qom from the new coronavirus this month, Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency reported on Monday, as Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan and Iraq confirmed their first cases.
The new death toll is significantly higher than the latest number of confirmed cases of infections that Iranian officials had reported just a few hours earlier and which stood at just 12 deaths out of 47 cases, according to state TV.
A lawmaker from Qom, Ahmad Amiriabadi Farahani, was quoted in ILNA saying that more than 250 people are in quarantined in the city, which is a popular place of religious study for Shiites from across Iran and other countries.
He said the 50 deaths date as far back as February 13 and accused Iran’s health minister of “lying” about the outbreak. The first officially reported cases of the virus and the first deaths in the country were on February 19.
“None of the nurses have access to proper protective gears,” Farahani told ILNA, adding that some health care specialists had left the city. “So far, I have seen any particular action to confront corona by the administration.”