The shrines do not lick!

Iran’s highest clergy refuses to close the mosques, despite the coronavirus epidemic in the country

Iran has become a new focus of the spread of coronavirus. The country took second place after China in terms of deaths from the Covid-19 strain and fourth place in the world in terms of the number of south Korea and Italy infected after China, South Korea. According to the Ministry of Health on March 5, 3513 people fell ill in Iran, and 107 died of a new infection. The coronavirus was infected by 23 deputies of parliament. Among them is the Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Masuma Ebtekar and the Deputy Minister of Health Iraj Harirchi. WHO begins the supply of humanitarian assistance to Iran. "New" tells how Iran lives during the spread of coronavirus.

On February 19, Iran’s authorities reported that the first coronavirus had been discovered. And on the same day they announced the death of two people. There were assumptions that Iran’s authorities did the same as China: they hid information about the coronavirus until they realized that the situation is critical. But it is possible that Iran simply failed to identify the sick immediately and isolate them.

“It is one thing when we catch the very first sick and stop the chain of transmission of the infection, then we have the number of sick people at a low level,” explains Irina Yakutenko, a scientific journalist and molyacular biologist. - And another thing is when they have long been in the “blind zone” and convey the infection further. And when the incubation period passes, we immediately see explosive growth. ”

Already on February 21, Iran went to third place in mortality from coronavirus in the world after China. The number of new infected people every day increases significantly.

The virus could get to Iran through transit passengers from China. Iran had suspended direct air traffic with China since the beginning of February. But the Iranian state airline Mahan Air continued transit flights from China through Tehran to other countries. Iran’s authorities also suggested that the virus could spread through Chinese workers and students - there are now many of them in the city of Kuma, which has become the first point of outbreak of infection in the country.

Iran, following China, quickly ended up in an air blockade. Isolation began before the appearance of the virus. European countries interrupted tourist trips to Iran in January - after January 8, the Ukrainian Boeing 737 crashed over Tehran. Now the air traffic with Iran has suspended neighboring countries. Pakistan, Armenia, Türkiye closed the borders. Tajikistan, Afghanistan, the UAE banned flights. Iraq suspended the issuance of tourist visas to the Iranians. Now Iran is trying to take out his citizens from those countries with which the air traffic has ceased. A special flight was organized from Dubai, on which the Iranians returned home.

The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry called on his citizens to be careful in Iran. If Iraq and Azerbaijan close the boundaries with Iran, this will make their inhabitants very vulnerable.

Iran in its region is the Center for Medical Tourism, they go here from neighboring countries, especially Iraqis and Azerbaijanis.

Russia has limited the air message with Iran from February 28, but you can still fly from Moscow to Tehran and return back to Aeroflot and Mahan Air. Russia also forbade issuing transit and ordinary visas to citizens from Iran - except for business and humanitarian.

A feature of the Covid-19 in Iran-they are sick with the country's top leadership. A member of the Council on the expediency (the advisory body of the adopted leader of the country) Mohammad Mirmohammadi and the former Iranian ambassador to the Vatican and Egypt Hadi Khosrooshahi had already died from coronavirus.

The TASS correspondent in Iran Nikita Smagin explains to the “new” that in Iran the power is not so isolated from the people as in a number of other countries. “A significant part of the authorities studied in Kuma and often comes there, including as pilgrims. If we introduce the deputy of the Majlis (Iran - V.M. ), then he comes to the kum and goes to the same shrine, where all people, and touches her with his hand and even kisses it. The deputies also participate in public prayer with all the inhabitants. ”

Mosques and tombs could become a place of transmission of infection. It was Kum - the Holy City of Shiites - became the first epicenter of coronavirus in the country. “Iran is a very religious country, they do not close the mosques and tombs to the last, where the pilgrims-shiites come. These are huge lines in which people stand for several hours, and if there are patients there, it spreads very quickly, ”says Irina Yakutenko.

When hundreds became infected, Iran’s Ministry of Health gave an official recommendation to close the tombs for visiting - but the higher clergy does not obey the Ministry of Health. The entrance to the shrine in Kuma is still open. They even report that the Iranians launched a flash mob, during which the fences of mosques are licked and they kiss ritual objects to prove the superiority of faith over the epidemic. However, according to Smagin, the last week the queues to the shrines have significantly decreased.

Sanitary measures affected the whole country. All schools and universities are closed for a month. Some universities switched to online learning. The parliament stopped working: out of 290 deputies, 23 fell ill with coronavirus. And last week, even Friday prayer was canceled in Tehran.

“If on Thursday-fifth-bell-bobbot [in Tehran] all the restaurants were either closed, or there was no one there, then on Tuesday I was surprised to open that the restaurants were open, and there are many people sitting there,” says “new” TASSI TASSI Smagin in Iran, “that is, there are fewer people on the streets than it were two or three weeks ago, but it is still not feeling that everything is not feeling that everything is not possible for everything. Norams hid and sit at home. There is no excitement and buying in stores either. But some people switched to the purchase of products through online stores-and I received a newsletter that, they say, do not go outside, buy from us. So far, panic is not felt among the population. There is fear, excitement - but there is no panic. ”

Irina Yakutenko

Scientific journalist, molecular biologist

-Disasters never occur due to any one factor, it is necessary that several coincide. Iran is an authoritarian, religious country with a low standard of living, because they immediately have many dangerous factors.

In poor countries, infrastructure is poorly established. There are not enough hospitals, there are not enough hospitals to isolate patients. At the time of the start of the epidemic of hospitals, in Jun, it was also not enough, but China is capable of building a hospital for 1000 beds in seven days. Iran is not able to repeat this.

The things with intensive care rooms are especially bad. In the case of severe pneumonia, patients need special equipment to provide the body with oxygen. Accordingly, if in a wealthy country a person fell ill with a severe form, his chances of surviving much higher, because he turns out to be sufficient supportive therapy. In Iran, the same person, with a high probability, will die.

Mortality in countries with a low standard of living will also be higher due to poor nutrition. The average patient who “falls” into the critical phase of the disease, in a poor country, is more weakened than in rich: he is often exhausted and due to poor medicine he has concomitant diseases. The risk of dying for him is higher.

Another reason is poor staff training. Not only in terms of knowledge and skills of treatment itself. In order not to get sick themselves and not infect others, health workers must constantly wash their hands. But studies show that only 40% of personnel observe this practice. In a bunch with poor treatment protocols, such negligence can lead to serious consequences.

The epidemic is easier to prevent at the early stage, but, as we have seen, officials in Iran did not recognize the existence of a problem for a long time and refused to believe in the reality of coronavirus. They missed the time when the uncontrolled distribution of SARS-COV-2 could be delayed. Ordinary citizens behave in a similar way -

Probably, everyone saw the frames as the Iranians lick the grilles in mosques to prove that the virus is not dangerous. In addition, the inhabitants of Iran trust Ayatollahs more than doctors.

Finally, studies show that in religious countries people are treated with less hunting and, in principle, worry about diseases, because "for all the will of Allah." In addition, Iran still has not closed the popular spatang places like the Fatima Mazuma mausoleum. Now the authorities are forcing all pilgrims to process their hands with a sanitizer before entering the entrance, but, firstly, this is not enough, and, secondly, people are remarkably infected each other when they stand in line for many hours.

Another problem is insufficient diagnosis. Because of this, the ratio of the number of those who infected those who died may look strangely high.

In undemocratic countries like Iran, usually a lot of people sit in prisons. Medical assistance there is even worse than in the wild, and the contacts between people are very close. That is, prisons are seedlings of any infectious diseases, and a large number of prisoners - an additional risk factor for such countries.

As a result, in poor countries we expect more deaths from coronavirus than in the rich. And also in authoritarian more than in democratic ones.

Alexander Losev

Economist, General Director of the Criminal Code "Sputnik - Office of Capital"

- Coronavirus for Iran will result in even greater inflation, problems with poverty and excitement. After the Boeing shot down in January, Iran again fell under economic sanctions. Now they block the supply of drugs and medical equipment. Although individual countries are ready to help Iran, there were big problems with payments. Iran spent a lot of calculations through intermediaries, for example, Turkey, but now there are problems with Syria. It complicates the task that Iran is disconnected from the SWIFT system.

This virus revealed economic problems in the entire world economy. Countries that are already cut off from global trade will suffer to a lesser extent.

For Iran, the biggest problem is a drop in oil prices and oil products.

The deposits in Iran are old, they need new drilling technologies that are not available due to sanctions. They have outdated technology, the structure of production and transportation, which does not yet allow the competitor to become either Russia or Saudi Arabia. Although the reserves there are large.

The same with gas. They have the largest deposits that Iran shares with Qatar. And now Iran and Qatar seemed to launch two tubes in one glass with a cocktail and beat their foreheads. This is also a difficult situation for them.

Since the United States will not be removed quickly, the instability will continue in the Middle East. And the overabundance of oil, which arose due to the fact that the air traffic, transport communication was partially discontinued, will put pressure on oil prices for a long time. Accordingly, Iran as an exporter will suffer from these prices.

The final losses of the global economy can only be estimated by the summer. In some countries, the recession will last until the end of the year. Now these losses can be compared with the consequences of the US and China trade war, which also influenced international trade and the consumption of resources and raw materials. Now the same thing, but developing countries will suffer in the same way as developed, because they are places of assembly of products for developed countries and exporters of resources.