All 140 virus cases in region linked to Iran
UAE SUSPENDS PASSENGER, CARGO FLIGHTS TO IRAN FOR A WEEK
The coronavirus outbreak that began in Wuhan has infected at least 140 in the Middle East, and all these cases have been linked to Iran.
Yesterday Gulf states announced new measures to curtail links with Iran in order to prevent the disease from spreading further in the region. The UAE suspended all passenger and cargo flights to Iran for a week.
In a harrowing development, one of the key officials leading Iran’s desperate fight to stem the spread of the virus himself fell victim. Iraj Harirchi, a deputy health minister, was diagnosed with coronavirus.
This bodes ill for Iran as it strengthens suspicions that the diseases may be getting out of control. Many Iranians took to social media to accuse authorities of concealing facts
US to Iran: Tell the truth
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a political swipe, claiming the United States was “deeply concerned” Iran may have covered up details about the spread of coronavirus, and he called on all nations to “tell the truth”.
Believed to come from wildlife in Wuhan, the disease has infected 80,000 people and killed
2,663 in China. In Europe, Italy is the front line, with more than 280 cases and 11 deaths. Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Croatia reported their first cases.
Pilgrims, migrant workers, businessmen, soldiers and clerics all flow constantly across Iran’s frontiers, often crossing into countries with few border controls, weak and ineffective governments and fragile health systems.
Now, as it struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Iran is also emerging as the second focal point after China for the spread of the disease. New cases in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, the UAE — even one in Canada — have all been traced to Iran, sending tremors of fear rippling out from Kabul to Beirut.
HEALTH SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN SHATTERED BY WAR
The Middle East is in many ways the perfect place to spawn a pandemic, experts say, with the constant circulation of both pilgrims and itinerant workers who might carry the virus. Iran’s economy has been strangled by sanctions, its people have lost trust in their government and its leaders are isolated from much of the world, providing little clarity about the extent of the epidemic.
Civil wars or years of unrest have shattered the health systems of several neighbouring countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.
“It is a recipe for a massive viral outbreak,” said Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the former founding executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids.
‘AN UNINVITED AND INAUSPICIOUS PASSENGER’
Millions of pilgrims travel each year from around the region to visit Shiite sites in Iran and Iraq. In January alone, 30,000 people returned to Afghanistan from Iran, and hundreds of others continue to make the pilgrimage to Qom, the site of the outbreak, every week, Afghan officials say.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sought to reassure the nation in a speech yesterday, calling the new coronavirus an “uninvited and inauspicious passenger”. “We will get through corona,” Rouhani said.
DOZENS COULD HAVE BROUGHT VIRUS TO IRAQ
Iraq closed its border with Iran on Saturday, but millions cross it every year. So dozens of infected people could potentially have brought the virus to Iraq, depending on how long it has been present in Iran.
Qutaybah Al Jubouri, the head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Health Affairs Committee, called the coronavirus “a plague” and said his committee was demanding a far more complete closure of all “land, sea and air” borders with Iran “until the disease is completely controlled”.
Iran reported its first case of the coronavirus less than a week ago, in Qom. Yesterday, health officials said three more people had died, bringing the total to 15. At least 95 others had been infected in Iran, officials added.
Now the slow drip of news about the spread of the virus is compounding Tehran’s already acute credibility problems. Iranians were ignoring official urgings to stay away from hospitals for fear of spreading the disease, instead crowding into emergency rooms to be tested.