As many as 50 people have died in the Iranian city of Qom from the new coronavirus, Iran’s semiofficial ILNA news agency reported on Monday, as three neighbouring countries reported their first novel coronavirus cases claiming that all the infected patients had recently travelled to Iran.
The reported death toll figure is higher even than the number of confirmed cases of infections provided by the Iranian state officials - who say, with four more deaths on Monday, the toll stands at 12 deaths out of 47 cases of infections.
Iran government pledged transparency on virus figures after a lawmaker from Qom city on Monday accused the government of covering up the full extent of the coronavirus outbreak in the holy city.
According to semi-official news agency ISNA, Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani accused Iran's health minister of "lying" about the outbreak.
An official from Qom, Ahmad Amiriabadi Farahani, was quoted by ILNA as saying that more than 250 people are in quarantined in the city, which is a popular place of religious study for Shia Muslims from across Iran and other countries.
He said the 50 deaths date as far back as Feb 13.
Iran, however, first officially reported cases of the virus and its first deaths on February 19.
Even the officially admitted 12 deaths from the outbreak in Iran are the highest number of fatalities outside China, the origin and epicentre of the pandemic, But the government was sticking to its stance and saying it had provided real figures.
Iran's deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi strongly rejected the allegations by Qom city MP.He vowed to step down if even one-fourth of the alleged death toll is proved.
Government officials in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Bahrain also confirmed that they had detected the first coronavirus cases and are taking all out precautionary measures.
The Bahraini citizen, who arrived from Iran, has been diagnosed with the disease, while three cases reported from Kuwait showed symptoms of coronavirus.
Similarly, four new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in United Kingdom while patients showing virus signs have been reported in different cities of Europe.
