Iran now has the highest coronavirus cases in the world: ’25 million Iranians estimated to be infected with coronavirus,’ Iranian President Rouhani says

For the first time, Iran is now admitting that the country has the highest coronavirus cases in the world. With a population of more than 80 million, Iran is one of the hardest hit countries in the Middle East. In a televised speech on Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani estimated that some 25 million Iranians have been infected and 14,000 have died.

Rouhani said:

“Our estimate is that so far 25 million Iranians have been infected with this virus and about 14,000 have lost their lives.”

He went on to say that “there is the possibility that between 30 and 35 million more people will be at risk.” Iran currently still did not have herd immunity to the deadly coronaavirus. The figure cited by Rohani was far higher than Saturday’s official figure for infections of 271,606, and corresponds to more than 30 percent of Iran’s 80 million population.

To date, 271,606 more than 200,000 Iranians have been hospitalized for COVID-19, Rohani said, adding the ministry expected that another 200,000 might need hospital treatment in the coming months. An official at the government’s coronavirus task force said the 25 million people mentioned by Rouhani were “mildly affected patients who … did not need to seek medical advice”, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

The Iranian Health Ministry reported 188 deaths in the previous 24 hours to take Iran’s total to 13,979.