Coronavirus | Iran estimates it has 25 million cases2Photo© hindustantimes.com

Coronavirus | Iran estimates it has 25 million cases

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Iran’s president on Saturday estimated as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak’s beginning, as he urged the public to take the pandemic seriously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Hassan Rouhani cited a new Iranian Health Ministry study in offering the unprecedentedly high numbers.

Rouhani also said about 30 to 35 million will be infected to the virus in the coming months. We have to estimate that 30 to 35 million people will be exposed to the virus, which is very important, Rouhani added. Iran’s population is around 81 million people. Iranians officials have not explained on what the report’s estimates are based. The study has so far not been made publicly available. Referring to the report, Rouhani said it also predicts that the number of hospitalisations will soon be “twice as many as we have seen in the last 150 days.

In recent weeks, Iran has seen daily death tolls spike to their highest-ever levels, sparking increasing fear even as government officials say they can’t lock the country back down for fear of cratering its sanctions-hit economy. Iran has seen the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with more than 270,000 confirmed cases and at least 13,979 deaths. That includes 2,166 new cases and 188 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.