25 mn Iranians exposed to Covid-19, millions more may get infected: Rouhani

Rouhani cited an unpublished health ministry report saying that most of Iran's 81 million people may wind up acquiring Covid-19 at some point

As many as 25 million Iranians may have been infected with Covid-19 and millions more may end up with the disease, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, citing figures that contradict official statistics.

In a televised meeting of the coronavirus task force on Saturday, Rouhani cited an unpublished health ministry report which suggested that most of Iran's 81 million people may wind up acquiring Covid-19 at some point.

"Between 30 and 35 million people in the coming months may be exposed to the disease," Rouhani said to members of Iran's coronavirus task force.

Iran's current official statistics place the overall number of those infected since the beginning of the outbreak in February at nearly 270,000, which is almost 100 orders of magnitude less than the president's estimates.

Presidential Spokesman Alireza Moezi, for his part, clarified in a tweet that the Health Ministry study cited by Rouhani is just one of the scenarios in which that number of Iranians may have been exposed to the virus and hence developed an immunity.

Since the beginning of July, Iran has set the record for daily casualties three times, the last time on July 9, when the authorities announced the death of 221 people from Covid-19.