Iran official: Coronavirus deaths could double if guidelines not followed
Iranian officials are warning that the 30,000 deaths reported could be much higher.
Iran's Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, who became a well-known face in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran for a press conference in which he was suffering from visible symptoms, said that the country’s official death and infection numbers could be much higher.
According to Harirchi, many patients are treated for coronavirus symptoms in hospitals, but since their test results are negative they are not counted as part of the official figures. The negative test results could be a result of false negatives. He said that according to World Health Organization protocol, the only way to count someone as part of the official statistics is if their test is positive.
