The coronavirus made its way into the upper echelons of the Iranian government.
Iran’s first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, contracted the COVID-19 virus, the most senior Iranian official yet to have tested positive for the growing contagion, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
Iran has multiple vice presidents who oversee a variety of matters, but Jahangiri oversees the others and reports to President Hassan Rouhani. It is unclear how close of a contact Jahangiri and Rouhani have had in recent days.
Iran is suffering a severe coronavirus outbreak throughout its country. Although official tabulations claim there have been 9,000 infections and about 350 deaths, that number is disputed, with some academics claiming that Iran is not accurately reporting infections. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a dissident group working to overthrow the regime, claims to have tallied thousands of deaths in cities across the country.
On Tuesday, the top United Nations official on human rights in Iran called on the regime to release prisoners in the virus-ravaged country. The coronavirus has killed a top adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and infected another vice president, Masoumeh Ebtekar, as well as Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi.
Khamenei canceled his annual speech marking the Iranian new year on March 20. He also said medical workers who are killed by the virus would be “recognized as martyrs.”
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic on Wednesday.
