Iranian health officials play down president's figure of 25 million people infected

  • 📰 Reuters
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 36 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 18%
  • Publisher: 97%

Health Health Headlines News

Health Health Latest News,Health Health Headlines

Iranian health officials sought on Sunday to play down the president’s estimate that some 25 million people have been infected with the coronavirus, saying it was based on serological blood tests that measure exposure to the illness and that cannot be relied on to show the current state of disease.

FILE PHOTO: An Iranian man and his son wearing a protective face mask walks in a street, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease , in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2020. WANA via REUTERS

A Health Ministry statement carried by Iranian news media said the figure given by the president was based on numbers produced by a deputy in the ministry. Serological tests determine if a person has been exposed to a disease by showing their antibody response. In the coronavirus pandemic, they have been used by countries to survey samples of the population and estimate overall infection rates — whether or not people have had severe, mild or no symptoms of COVID-19.

Iran has been hardest hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, with infections and deaths rising sharply since restrictions were eased, beginning in mid-April. Still, the number given by Rouhani took many Iranians by surprise.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Wait, the Iranian government is actually telling lies to their people so things aren’t as bad as they really are? Shocker.

Unbelievable.

Iranians support the boogaloo

He and our guy should go bowling.

It is clear that Iran's premature reopening of the country has contributed to this outcome.

All of Iran's previous efforts to contain the outbreak have been in vain.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 2. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines