Iran's Health Ministry Refutes BBC Reports of COVID-19 Underestimations in Country

BBC Persian recently published data on COVID-19 statistics in Iran citing anonymous sources, stating the death toll there is three times higher than the official figures: 42,000 versus the 14,405 in official Iranian Health Ministry reports. The number of those infected in official statements has allegedly been halved: 278,000 instead of 451,000.

Kianush Jahanpur, head of the Public Relations and Information Centre of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran, speaking to Sputnik, has dispelled BBC reports:

"It is easy to make controversial statements if the media is unprofessional, viewing everything that happens through the prism of politics. In our country from 380,000 to 400,000 people die annually. If the media works unprofessionally, they can claim the coronavirus is the cause of any number of deaths from that figure. This is the case in many countries, including the UK, where the BBC Persian service is based. The statistics reported by the service are false and unrealistic, the source is not specified and political motives are clearly evident", he said.

Kianush Jahanpur explained why the BBC provided such statistics:

"Even these false statistics cannot justify the high disease burden and mortality rates in so-called developed countries such as the United Kingdom. They try to influence public opinion in other countries by providing false and fake statistics to distract people's attention from the catastrophe happening in their countries", he stressed.

On the contrary, the head of the Public Relations and Information Centre noted that the way Iran provides statistics on COVID-19 can serve as an example for many countries.

Today, the whole world knows that since December of last year there have been cases of coronavirus in Western and Southern Europe, and for various reasons, including deficiencies in the healthcare systems, as well as deliberate concealment of cases – nothing has been reported, Kianush Jahanpur said.

The Iranian Ministry of Health representative noted that Iran is the only country experiencing the coronavirus outbreak while at the same time facing comprehensive sanctions from the EU and the US. Moreover, he added that a propaganda campaign was launched against Iranian public opinion and society from the very beginning of the epidemic but the transparency of Iran's provision of statistics on COVID-19 had neutralised all such attacks.

"In the coming weeks, we will see this fake news suffer the same fate. The official source for coronavirus statistics is the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, which announces daily all identified cases and accurate statistics on coronavirus deaths".

The Health Ministry representative further said that the necessary reliable information could be obtained from the database of the Ministry of Health and the media, including the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIB).

"These statistics are updated daily, confirmed and used by all other official health organisations and institutions of Iran. This order has existed from day one, and any other statistics are not reliable", Kianush Jahanpur concluded.