Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said today, Saturday, at a meeting of a special government committee to combat Corona on the occasion of the first anniversary of the entry of the virus into Iran on February 19 last year that his government discovered Corona early, although some wanted to hide the spread of the virus from the Iranians, in order to hold parliamentary elections.
Rouhani added, “Some did not want to inform the people about the spread of Corona in Iran in order to hold the parliamentary elections, but I opposed hiding the emergence of the Corona virus, until the parliamentary elections were held, and I asked the Ministry of Health to inform the Iranians about this .. Opponents of the revolution suspect that the government did not inform, or it was late because of the elections … This is a pure lie. ”
The Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, had criticized Rouhani’s government for announcing the emergence of the Corona virus, two days before the parliamentary elections that took place on February 21of last year, which witnessed low participation.
Khamenei said in a speech at the time: “The enemies used the Coronavirus as an excuse to prevent the holding of parliamentary elections.”
The participation rate in those elections, which was won by the hardliners, was 42.57%, the lowest rate since 1979.
Daily infections and deaths due to the Corona virus are still high in Iran, as the Iranian Health Ministry announced today, Saturday, that 7,922 new infections and 68 deaths have been recorded during the past 24 hours.