Iran Has Far More Coronavirus Cases Than It Is Telling The World

An Iranian border guard wears a mask.

According to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, Iran has reported 6,566 COVID-19 cases or about one in every 12,000 people in its population. The first case appeared on February 19. Right now Iran is third behind China (80,695) and South Korea (7,314), and just ahead of Italy (5,883). But the official Iranian number is almost certainly an undercount, probably due to the Iranian government’s attempt to hide a desperate situation for which it is partially responsible.

The first sign of dishonesty came on February 28, when Masoumeh Ebtekar, one of the country’s vice presidents, announced that she had the virus, Ebtekar is one of the most famous politicians in the country.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/irans-coronavirus-problem-lot-worse-it-seems/607663/

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