as well as containing public fear in the
last hour Italy said 24 people have died
in the last 24 hours taking the total
death there to 79 more than 90,000
people are infected worldwide with 3100
deaths at least 70 countries are
affected the latest to report cases
Morocco and Ukraine the French
government is requisitioning all current
and future stocks of protective masks
reserving them for health professionals
and victims of the virus there south
korea saw 851 new cases largely in and
around the city of daegu its biggest
daily increase in infections and Iran's
supreme leader has put the country on a
war footing 23 members of parliament
there have the virus 300,000 soldiers
and volunteers could be mobilized a
warning there are some distressing
images in this report from our
international editor Lindsey Hilsum the
supreme leader celebrating natural
resources day wearing disposable gloves
a resource that's been in short supply
as novel coronavirus has swept Iran he
seemed done worried even though 23
Iranian members of Parliament's and a
Health Minister are amongst those
infected and two senior officials have
died in vain or burners any more this
disaster in our opinion is not that big
there have been and there are bigger
disasters some of which we have seen in
our country in the past the people can
through prayers and seeking help and
intercession from the Holy Imams peace
be upon them and the Holy Prophet of
Islam eliminate many of the problems but
this video which a source has told me
was filmed at the behest mysamma morgue
in the holy city of calm shows how
serious this is we counted 48 bodies
suggesting that the official countrywide
death toll of 77 is an underestimate had
the burial ground outside they inter the
coronavirus victims in a special
separate row
they're in toning prayers the voiceover
says 80 have been buried already I heard
of another who died in calm today a poet
and cleric who was only 35 years old in
Tehran billboards give practical advice
on hand-washing and isolation and many
are wearing masks but people don't
necessarily trust government information
nor know what to do a lot of people do
not trust the numbers and there's a lot
of confusion and sort of fake news quack
remedies being peddled as well people
are saying if you drink saffron tea it
could cure coronavirus which is of
course not true and but there's a lot of
doubt over the government official
figures so at the moment they're saying
that there's about 2,300 people infected
whereas unofficial estimates are saying
that it's in the tens of thousands so
there's a huge gap some prisoners are
reported to be suffering the symptoms of
the virus amongst them the British
Iranian Nazanin Sagara Ratcliffe
although the Iranian government says
she's well today the judiciary spokesman
said that 54,000 prisoners would be
allowed out temporarily but it's not
clear if she'll be amongst them
yesterday UN supplies including badly
needed surgical gowns and masks arrived
in Tehran at least 10 Iranian doctors
are reported to have been infected and
there's a desperate shortage of testing
kits but medical workers have reportedly
been told that talking about the virus
openly is rumor mongering and a threat
to public security official TV
broadcaster up feet and the Iranian
equivalent of the Blitz spirit is
invoked in a reference to the iran-iraq
war of the 1980s
but this is a different kind of war
which decades of economic decline
sanctions and the government's
reluctance to be open makes it difficult
for the Islamic Republic to fight