Fear not Coronavirus, Iran ‘endures hardships to make enemy regretful’: Rouhani

Fear not Coronavirus, Iran ‘endures hardships to make enemy regretful’: Rouhani
February 25, 2020, 9:32 am

Iranian family wear protective masks to prevent contracting a coronavirus, as they stand at Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran. (Reuters)

Iranians should not be afraid of coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, assuring citizens that Iran will overcome the virus, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Iranian officials on Tuesday reported three more deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 15, state media reported.

“We will, God willing, get past this virus,” said Rouhani.

“Influenza B virus had 16,000 causalities in America, while it had just over 100 casualties in Iran,” he said. “Coronavirus spreads more quickly but it is not tougher than influenza.”

He called on Iranians to follow the health ministry’s instructions and added that they should not be afraid of coronavirus.

“This year, we had a lot of problems and sadness,” the president said. “From the martyrdom of commander Soleimani to the death of the people of Kerman and the plane’s passengers, and natural disasters … our nation does not surrender to sanctions and endures hardships to make the enemy regretful.”

The Iranian city of Qom's representative in parliament said on Monday coronavirus has killed around 50 people in his city alone, according to the semi-official ILNA news agency.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Iran has risen to 95, the health ministry’s spokesman Kianush Jahanpour said on Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency reported. The death toll from the virus in Iran is currently at 15, Jahanpour said.

Eleven countries across the Middle East have closed their air and land borders to Iran as the deadly coronavirus continues its spread throughout the Islamic Republic.

source: Reuters

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