Iran Government to Unveil Huge Aid Package to Troubled Families

The package was approved in a meeting of the National Coronavirus Campaign Headquarters chaired by President Hassan Rouhani.

The sum will be allocated to businesses damaged by the shutdown of activities demanded by the National Headquarters in charge of administration of the affairs fighting coronavirus outbreak and financing the national health system.

“Part of the allocation will be paid to the Iranian households, workers, and vulnerable classes of society”, Rabiyee wrote on his personal Twitter account, adding, “Some €16 billion of this amount will be given as loans to damaged businesses which have refused to fire their workers”.

The official continued that providing medical supplies and medicines as well as increasing ICU beds for COVID-19 patients are also on the agenda.  

He said that part of the allocated sum will be spent for unemployment insurance fund.  

President Rouhani said in the meeting of the National Headquarters fighting coronavirus that the corona-infected patients will undergo medical treatment free of charge.

“The government has undertaken to pay 90 percent of medical treatment expenses”, he said.

The coronavirus COVID-19 has affected nearly all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has so far killed nearly 31,000 people and infected over 665,000 others globally.

Iran reported on Saturday that a total number of 2,517 coronavirus patients have died and 35,408 cases of infection have been identified in the country so far. Meanwhile, 11,679 people have also recovered.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and universities have been extended until early April.

The government also imposed travel restrictions, specially on Iran’s North, which is among the red zones. The country has also adopted strict digital health control procedures at airports to spot possible infections.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced earlier this month that a new national mobilization plan would be implemented across the country to fight against the coronavirus epidemic and more effectively treat patients.

Namaki said that the plan will include all the 17,000 health centers and the 9,000 medical and clinical centers in all cities, suburban areas and villages.

He added that the plan will include home quarantine, noting that infected people will receive the necessary medicines and advice, but they are asked to stay at home.

Namaki said that people with a more serious condition will stay at the hospitals, adding that the public places will be disinfected, the entries of infected towns and cities will be controlled to diagnose and quarantine the infected cases.

He added that the necessary equipment and facilities have been provided, expressing the hope that the epidemic would be curbed.

According to the latest statistics of Health Ministry, the number of medical laboratories to test coronavirus infection has reached 90 across the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Iran’s response to the virus has so far been up to the mark. Still, it says the US sanctions are a big challenge, and Washington would be complicit in the rising death toll in Iran if it would not remove its sanctions.

The World Health Organization has considered priorities in combating coronavirus and Islamic Republic of Iran obeys and follows up priorities as defined by WHO.

The WHO is dispatching separate delegations to all countries.