Adviser To Iran's Supreme Leader Dies Of Coronavirus, 3 Top Government Officials Also Infected

Karamchand Rameshwar - Mar 03, 2020

Earlier, some senior Iranian officials were infected with the coronavirus, and it seems like the situation is getting worse in the country.

Mohammad Mir-Mohammadi, a member of the "Expediency Discernment Council" - an important part of the Iranian government, died due to the coronavirus infection on March 2, according to the state audio.

The council advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has a role to play when the supreme leader and the Iranian Parliament have differences or conflicts.

Corona Iran 1 — Mohammad Mir-Mohammadi, a member of the "Expediency Discernment Council" - an important agency in the Iranian government, died of coronavirus.

He died at the age of 71, becoming the first senior Iranian leader to die of the coronavirus amid the coronavirus outbreak that infected several other high-rank officials in the country. Previously, his mother had also died of coronavirus.

Other senior officials infected with the virus include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, one of Iran's 12 vice presidents, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and Mojtaba Zonnour, chairman of Iran Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Among the deaths was Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak, who was a newly elected MP representing Astana Ashrafieh city on February 21, died of Covid-19 on February 28.

Experts worry that Iran's death rate is 5.5%, much higher than the world average, suggesting that the number of infections in Iran could be much higher than the published figure.

Iranian media reported on March 2 that the number of new cases of coronavirus infection in the country had increased to 978 cases, compared with 593 cases a day earlier. The number of deaths is 54.

Across the Middle East, there have been 1,150 cases of coronavirus, most of them from Iran.

Coronavirus Temple Iran — Fatima Masumeh Temple in Qom City, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in Iran, was disinfected to prevent the virus from spreading.

Earlier, the London-based BBC Farsi said the number of virus deaths in Iran had reached 210 - data they said were collected from hospitals. The Iranian Ministry of Health immediately denied this information.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been deployed to facilities across the country for disease prevention, according to a commander of the force.

Iranian Ministry of Health spokesman Kianush Jahanpur acknowledged that the country was preparing for the possibility that tens of thousands of people could be positive for the new strain of coronavirus.

Iran ordered the closure of schools until March 3. The government also announced an extension of the closure of universities and a ban on holding concerts and sporting events for a week.

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