Prognosis
Iran Deaths From Virus May Be Triple Official Tally, BBC Reports
Iranian, wearing protective face masks walk under a billboard thanking first responders in Tehran on July 22.
Photographer: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
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The number of fatalities from coronavirus in Iran may have been almost three times larger than official counts, the BBC’s Persian news service said in a report based on data from an unidentified person close to the Iranian authorities.
The pandemic may have killed as many as 42,000 Iranians by July 21 compared with some 14,000 deaths reported by the Health Ministry by that time, the report said. More than 450,000 people had contracted the virus in that period, the person said. The state tally stood at 279,000.