A member of the Iranian Supreme Medical Council, Hossein Gheshlaghi, says the number of coronavirus victims in Iran is three to four times higher than the official figures announced by the country's Ministry of Health.
The state-run Mehr news agency cited Gheshlaghi as saying that anybody can obtain the new statistics through "field reports of the medical staff."
Furthermore, Gheshlaghi asserted that, in the official reports, the number of people who were infected by or died of COVID-19 in Iran "only seems lower" than many other countries.
However, he explained that in many cases, the medical teams declare deaths of COVID-19, but the Ministry of Health does not add the name of the victims to its official death toll.
Based on the data provided by the Ministry of Health, 32,320 people infected with COVID-19 in Iran have died as of Saturday, October 24.
Therefore, according to the Supreme Medical Council's estimate, the current number of coronavirus victims in Iran should be more than 129,000.
Announcing different statistics on COVID-19 victims has become customary practice in Iran. There has always been speculation about the accuracy and transparency of various statistics and data concerning COVID-19 in Iran and its victims.
Previously, the Deputy Minister of Health, Iraj Harirchi, said that the number of coronavirus victims in Iran was up to 2.2 times more than the official figure.
In one case, a health expert, who was also active in fighting COVID-19, maintained that the actual number of the COVID-19 death toll in Iran was twenty times the official figure. The officials at the Ministry of Health immediately dismissed the claim as false and unfounded.
The officials of the Ministry of Health of Iran still refuse to present coronavirus statistics separately for each of the thirty-one provinces of Iran. They prefer to merely categorize the provinces' situation as white, yellow, and red.
Currently, the Ministry of Health spokesman says 43 cities across Iran are in a "critical" situation. These cities will go under severe restriction for a week from Monday, October 26.
With the increase in the COVID-19 death toll in Iran, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered more travel restrictions and a center to follow up the National Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters' resolutions.
In his first meeting with the National Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters members since it formed eight months ago, Khamenei supported setting a fine for the citizens who do not respect the food country's health protocols and regulations.
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