Coronavirus Kills Two Iranians, First Deaths In Middle East

Publish On: 20 Feb, 2020 11:03 AM | Updated   |   Sj Desk  

On Wednesday, the deadly coronavirus claimed the lives of two Iranians, making them the Islamic republic’s first cases of the virus. 

As per the news agency YJC, the two who died were Iranian citizens and residents of the holy city of Qom. The pair have become the first deaths as a result of the COVID-19 virus in the Middle East and only the seventh and eighth outside China, which is the place of origination of the epidemic. 

IRNA, the state news agency quoted a ministry spokesman who said that the virus was detected in two elderly people with immunity problems in Qom, south of the Iranian capital.

“Following the recent cases of chronic respiratory diseases in Qom, two of the patients tested positive in preliminary tests,” it quoted Kianoush Jahanpour as saying.

“Unfortunately both passed away in the intensive care unit due to old age and issues with their immune system.”

“Both of the people who had tested positive for coronavirus were in Qom and were old. Both have passed away,” said Alireza Vahabzade, a media adviser to Iran’s health minister.

According to the head of the health ministry’s contagious diseases unit, the two people who died were Qom residents and had no history of leaving the country. “These two were from Qom and visited (us) two days ago after falling ill... they didn’t even have a history of going abroad,” IRNA quoted Mohammad Mehdi Gouya as saying.

Apart from the two deaths in the Middle East, one person has died in Japan, one in Taiwan, another in the Philippines, two in Hong Kong, and one in France. In the mianland, the death toll has crossed 2,000. 

In India, three cases of coronavirus were reported-- all in Kerala. The three are now stable and said to have recovered.