Iran denies claim that death toll is ‘five times’ given figure

THE Iranian government has insisted it is not covering up the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak in the country after an MP claimed the death toll from the disease was five times higher than official figures.

Neighbouring Middle Eastern states have since shut land borders and cancelled flights to the Islamic republic.

Iran’s health ministry said there were 64 confirmed cases of the virus with 12 deaths, but Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, an MP from Qom, said the government was “lying” and that there were 50 deaths in his city alone.

The World Health Organisation believes the coronavirus has an estimated 2 per cent fatality rate, meaning that the total number of infected people in Iran could be about 2,500.

Many Iranian citizens are already deeply suspicious of the government after it lied for several days about accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian airliner last month.

Mr Farahani’s claim was reported by the semi-official ILNA news agency. Iraj Harirchi, the deputy health minister, said he “categorically” denied the claim of 50 deaths in Qom.

“This is not the time for political confrontations. The coronavirus is a national problem,” he said.

By yesterday afternoon, there were confirmed cases of coronavirus in Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Afghanistan. In each case, the infected person had recently travelled to Iran.

Turkey, Pakistan and Armenia have all closed their land borders with Iran, while Iraq is only allowing Iraqi citizens to cross. Flights to and from Iran have been cancelled in Tajikistan and Oman, while Turkish Airlines has cancelled most flights.