Did Rouhani Ban a Tehran Official From Talking About Lockdown?

Coronavirus continues to ravage Iran. According to official figures, in the first six days of autumn, 1,109 people lost their lives to Covid-19. The Iranian government has been talking about imposing restrictions and even threatening to fine people who fail to comply with health protocols. State-run TV has begun broadcasting after a period of calm over the summer and, as coronavirus cases and fatalities rise, it has shown footage of crowded streets, routinely blaming the public for the spread of the virus. 

On Saturday, September 26, Iranian officials discussed new restrictions in greater Tehran and plans to impose fines on or even shut down businesses that do not comply with guidelines to protect people from coronavirus. Then, on September 27, Alireza Raeesi, a deputy health minister, announced plans for further measures to fine coronavirus patients who have tested positive but do not comply with rules for home quarantine. “These measures will be carried out in cooperation with experts, the judiciary and the police,” he said.

Pointing out that on September 26 alone, approximately 300 new patients were hospitalized in Tehran, Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province, said, “without a doubt, to fight coronavirus in Tehran, we need to speed up traffic, reduce congestion and impose restrictions. People who do not wear a mask will not be entitled to access services and government employees who do not comply with the rules shall be fined.”

Bandpey said his office had requested that a lockdown be imposed on contact sports, coffee shops, reception halls and other venues. Some Telegram channels linked to the government have reported that President Rouhani has banned Tehran’s governor from giving interviews until further notice because of his comments on restrictions in the capital but, as of now, official media outlets have not confirmed this report.

Hojjat Nazari, a member of Tehran City Council, appealed to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) not to create division in society. “I ask IRIB and other media outlets to inform people more about coronavirus, but to avoid polarizing people by accusing groups of them of being responsible for the increase in coronavirus cases,” he said. “Continuously pointing the finger at a group of people in official media, especially IRIB, without paying attention to the responsibilities of relevant agencies can only result in the polarization of society. Under these conditions, it is up to the National Coronavirus Taskforce to come up with stricter rules for certain activities and travel.”

Although Nazari implied criticism of certain agencies, he did not talk further about what many people have claimed is the main reason for the virus spreading: government incompetence. A considerable number of people have said the significant increase in the number of infections and fatalities has been the result of bad government policies, not the public or individual groups acting irresponsibly.

Possible School and University Closures in Tehran

Despite Rouhani’s resistance toward lockdowns, on Saturday, September 26, First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi reported that schools and universities, especially in Tehran, might be shut down for a week to begin with, and that the closure could then be extended. Harirchi also confirmed that close to 200 students across Iran had died from coronavirus. “In the last seven months more than 10,000 students have become ill with coronavirus. Of this number less than 200 have died,” he said. “But most of them got the virus from public places and their families, not from schools.”

Nevertheless, there are daily reports about teachers becoming infected by coronavirus, and about teachers who have died from it. Education ministry officials confirm some of these reports, but continue to insist that these cases are in no way related to these teachers being back at school. For example, on September 27, it was reported that two teachers in Kerman province had lost their lives to Covid-19 but Mashallah Mirza Hosseini, deputy head of Kerman Education Bureau, claimed that the deaths had nothing to do with their work.

Schools across Iran reopened on September 5, fueling concerns that students, teachers and school staff were being recklessly exposed to coronavirus. Objections and protests by parents, including on social media, as well as comments in the media forced the government to retreat from its insistence that students attend classes in person.

According to available statistics, since schools opened, about 10 percent of more than 14 million students in Iran have been attending classes in person, with other students taking classes online, or using options offered on public television or the education ministry’s SHAD app, though there are reports of multiple flaws with the app and other alternative educational options. In some cases, students do not have internet access, in others, students lack the necessary equipment, and other students are not learning because their parents do not believe online learning is acceptable. On September 26, a number of female students reported on social media that they had been forced to supply photographs for their online profiles of them wearing hijab.

The distribution of the flu vaccine among high-risk groups has been so slow and so limited that some people have said the distribution initiative may well not exist at all. Health ministry officials have appealed to people to be patient and insist that new shipments will arrive, and yet the time to achieve effective vaccination results is the beginning of autumn. The flu vaccine works by producing necessary antibodies in individuals two to four weeks after the vaccination. So there is significant concern that people are not able to access vaccines now, when they are most effective.

In her daily briefing for September 27, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:

Dr. Lari also reported that out of the 31 Iranian provinces, currently 30 provinces are in a high state of alert.

This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology