Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani, has claimed that around 25 million Iranians have been infected with Covid-19, according to a press release by the Iranian government on July 18.

In addition, another 30 to 35 million Iranians are at risk of contracting the disease, he added.

The press release further stated that the figures were based on a report by the Iranian health ministry, which Rouhani had cited.

Health ministry gives different figure

However, on July 19, the country's health ministry announced that the official figure of infections stood at 273,788 instead and sought to downplay the figure of 25 million by stating that it was based on serological blood tests, Al-Jazeera reported.

According to Reuters, a statement by the ministry added: "It is not possible to rely on serological tests to diagnose the current state of the disease."

Both the president and health ministry gave similar figures for deaths, however, with Rouhani stating that around 14,000 Iranians have lost their lives to the virus, while the health ministry said that the death toll stood at 14,188 as of July 19.

What are serological tests?

Serological tests are used to detect antibodies to Covid-19 from a blood sample, as a marker of past infection — a point that Mostafa Qanei, the head of the scientific committee for Iran's Covid-19 task force, highlighted as a limitation, Reuters further reported.

Qanei added that PCR tests of the throat and nose were needed to diagnose Covid-19 as well.

Separately, another Covid-19 task official was quoted as saying that the 25 million people who were infected were "mildly affected" patients who did not seek medical advice.

Confusion emerges over differing figures

ABCNews further reported that confusion has since emerged over the differing figures.

An Iranian journalist, Mehdi Babei, tweeted that Rouhani's remarks carried the following implications:

"What the President said about 25 million infections is as much as twice of the global infections, about 6.5 times of the U.S. infections and 12 times of that of Brazil's. It is about 92 times more than the health ministry's official number on coronavirus infection."

https://twitter.com/mehdibabaei92/status/1284507610159493121?s=20

However, Rouhani's statement does not appear to have been the first hint by the government that the actual number of Covid-19 cases in the country is higher than the official figures.

According to Time, a parliamentary report in April stated that the country's death toll is likely to be double the official figure and that the number of infections at that time was likely to be "eight to 10 times" higher than reported, as a result of insufficient testing.

President strikes an optimistic note

In any case, Rouhani's July 18 announcement also struck an optimistic note by stating that “we should not back down in the face of the disease as we will definitely win in the battle against the disease”.

He also called on the authorities to refrain from stirring up anxiety amongst Iranians.

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