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Jason Rezaian

Iran's coronavirus response makes matters worse

Many of the current problems could have been avoided. Yet by downplaying the crisis, Iranian officials have actually managed to aggravate the public panic they wanted to avoid.

Jason RezaianContributor

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On Friday, the Iranian government finally began to acknowledge what the world already knows: the COVID-19 virus has hit that country extremely hard and it's likely to get much worse.

In a televised news conference, the spokesman for Iran's coronavirus task force announced that 4700 cases of the virus had now been confirmed, including more than 1200 in the previous 24 hours. The official death count stands at 124.

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Washington Post

Jason Rezaian is an Iranian-American journalist and author who served as Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/iran-s-coronavirus-response-makes-matters-worse-20200308-p547yy