After hearing through Buzzfeed that the Deputy Health Minister, who claimed the Novel Coronavirus (now Covid-19) outbreak was under control in Iran, had tested positive for Covid-19, I needed to dig deep and get the facts.
In news reported by The New York Times, BBC News, The Guardian, CNBC, and CNN, the Deputy Health Minister of Iran, Iraj Harirchi, has contracted Coronavirus. Coronavirus is a potentially-deadly disease which can cause pneumonia in those with weaker immune systems, though this is up for debate, as a good fraction of coronavirus casualties were healthy prior to their diagnoses. Additionally, most people who have died from coronavirus complications were elderly. Coronavirus has been spreading across the globe, with initial reports coming from China and reaching as far as San Diego in the United States.
One of the initial doctors who blew the whistle has also passed away from the illness.In searching for a timeline of events during the pandemic, Iraj Harirchi was found downplaying the event on February 24, 2020. This information was found on Wikipedia and followed upstream, where Aljazeera confirmed that a person claimed fifty people died from Novel Coronavirus, which Harirchi denied, saying only 12 people died (Aljazeera). Following that possible downplay on statistics, on February 25, 2020 Dr. Iraj Harirchi, who said the disease was under control, along with three other members of the Iranian parliament had to excuse themselves from a session, were diagnosed with COVID-19 and asked to self-quarantine (Middle East Eye, The Atlantic, Business Insider, National Review, Al Arabiya).
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