Iran rejects report claiming death of 210 people

TEHRAN: Iran rejected reports claiming that more than 200 people killed due to coronavirus in the country, one of the hardest hit by the disease.

The BBC’s Persian language cited unnamed sources in Iran’s health ministry and said on Friday that at least 210 people had died in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Iran’s Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour accused foreign media of spreading misinformation about the outbreak as he announced the new figures today (Saturday).

The health ministry reported nine new deaths and a 53 percent jump in infections over the previous 24 hours taking the overall totals to 43 deaths and 593 cases.

The spokesperson said, “Given the rumours and false and contradictory content that may be published from satellite networks or media which are not well-intentioned towards Iranian people, I must say that what we publish as definitive statistics are based on the latest definitive findings of laboratory tests.”

Since it announced its first coronavirus deaths, Iran has scrambled to bring the outbreak under control, shutting schools, suspending cultural and sporting events and halting meetings of the cabinet and parliament.