Exclusive: Islamic Republic knew about coronavirus spread long before Feb 19
Iran International has received evidence that shows that contradictory to President Rouhani’s claim about identifying the first case of coronavirus on February 19, the Islamic Republic officials knew about the spread of coronavirus in Iran since late January.
The evidence includes genetic samples, patient records from Masih Daneshvari hospital, the transcript of the meetings between Health Ministry deputies about the method of fighting coronavirus, and the transcript of the meeting of the council of health and disasters policies.
According to the documents, on February 3, a 54 years old Chinese citizen, Xiaoping Zeng, was hospitalized in bed number 14 in ward 4 of Masih Daneshvari hospital for COVID19.
Xiaoping is a resident of Wuhan city of China and works at the Andia Steel factory in Zanjan province which has Chinese investors. There is no record of the fate of this Chinese citizen, but according to the documents, he is the first foreign
Based on the documents that Iran International has received, an employee of the Medical Science University of Ilam city was also hospitalized in Ilam and alter transferred to Tehran’s Masih Daneshvari University with COVID19 symptoms. He died on February 2nd. The specialist doctors told his family members that he died of coronavirus.
The evidence also shows that on February 8, the council of Health Ministry Deputies held a session with a focus on the preparedness of the health sector for identifying and fighting the virus.
The genealogy of the coronavirus shows that it was transferred to Iran on January 15. The virus was then transferred from Iran to Australia.