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Mass graves dug in Iran for coronavirus victims visible from space: Report
The coronavirus outbreak in Iran has infected a host of senior officials, politicians, clerics and members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
The coronavirus has spread rapidly across the world. More than 1,28,000 people have been infected, the vast majority in just four countries: China and South Korea - where new cases are declining - and Iran and Italy, where they are not.
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The spread has slowed so much in China that the government sent a medical crew to Italy and offered surplus supplies to Iran.
The situation is particularly grave in Iran which on Thursday reported 75 new deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 429 in the worst-hit country in the Middle East.
“We have identified 1,075 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, meaning that there are 10,075 infected people in the country. The death toll is 429,” Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state television.
Iran on Thursday said it had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
In fact, the local outbreak was so vast in Iran that the country began digging burial trenches so large that they are visible from space. The fact was brought to light by Washington Post, which reported about the burial trenches Behesht-e Masoumeh complex in Qom, about 145 kilometres from capital Tehran.
The excavation for the new burial began on February 21, the Post reported, and then rapidly expanded. The burial ground is spread over 100 yards, the report further said.
The videos cited by the Post in its reportage are from BBC Persian in which the reporter is seen visiting the site of the mass graves and highlighting the new burials.
The coronavirus outbreak in Iran has infected a host of senior officials, politicians, clerics and members of the elite Revolutionary Guards. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Thursday that Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had also been infected and was now under quarantine.
At least seven officials and politicians have died since February 19, when Iran announced first infections and two deaths from the virus.
