Ahmad al-Sibai - Tehran

We enter a pharmacy in the "Theater of the City" square in the capital, Tehran, to ask for face masks and rinses to cleanse hands. We find dozens of people who preceded us to order these goods, which have become more important than food and drink in Iran, after announcing the death of two people as a result of being infected with the Corona virus.

We waited a long time to ask the pharmacist Lukman Souda about the volume of demand to purchase these commodities, and his answer was that "since the announcement of two deaths and injuries, the demand for face masks and hand cleansing hands has increased ... Some types of masks have run out of the market, and the prices of available goods have doubled." He added that "a great panic afflicts the Iranian street from the spread of this virus among people."

This panic was detected by Al-Jazeera Net in the street. Until Wednesday evening, very few passers-by on the street were wearing masks, but after announcing the injuries, not wearing them was the exception.

The panic is not only in Tehran, but health officials - according to the Iranian Student News Agency - called for the suspension of all religious gatherings in the city of Qom, after two other people were confirmed to be infected with the Corona virus in the city where two people died of the virus this week.

"Two people showed their tests in Qom, and another in Arak, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Iran to five," Health Ministry spokesman Kyanosh Jahanpur tweeted on Twitter.

The agency quoted Jahanpur as saying that all the patients are Iranian, and the injured person in the central city of Arak is a doctor from Qom.

Panic hits the Iranian street from the spread of Corona virus (Al-Jazeera)

Great worries
Although these two cities are hundreds of kilometers away from Tehran, hundreds of thousands of people enter the capital every day seeking livelihood or knowledge and other ends, so fear is justified.

At the pharmacy, we ask a girl about the reason for buying large quantities of masks and lotions, and she says that "there are great fears of the spread of corona", and she considers that "the numbers announced by the government are less than what is reported in the street and communication sites."

In the same context, the young Poria, who was reading the newspaper in the square of "Medina Theater", believes that "the government has not announced the real numbers because of the parliamentary elections, and after its completion it will announce a number of this number."

He added that "the masks and handwashers do not provide or delay the transmission of infection, because the means of protection for the Iranians are almost non-existent."

The demand for gags and lotions has increased 20 times and their prices have increased dramatically (Al Jazeera)



Government efforts
In order to move closer to Iran's readiness to confront this virus, infectious disease specialist Dr. Khusraw Mohammadi reveals to us that this "virus is not new in Iran, as Iranian pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia transmitted it in 2012, and for this we must not be afraid because we previously encountered and controlled it, and our country is in The highest readiness to confront it. "

"We must teach people how to prevent it so that it does not spread, because it is a disease that a person carries for four days before his symptoms appear, and this is the most dangerous thing in him," he added.

But these deaths and injuries came at a time when Iran is not envied, that is, on the eve of parliamentary elections, the government is trying by all means to rally people and urge them to vote, but is this reflected in the participation?

Political analyst Saleh Al-Qazwini excludes this topic "because the Ministry of Health has taken the necessary and strict measures to prevent the spread of this virus, especially in electoral centers."

And Qazwini continued that "the Corona virus will not hinder the people from casting their votes," referring to the memory of "the elections that were taking place, and people going to the polling stations, and some cities bombing with missiles and planes in the Iran-Iraq war."

He concluded, "Iran witnessed worse conditions from the Coruna virus, yet people were elected and expressed their opinion."