TEHRAN – A national campaign called Iran-e Hamdel (literally meaning sympathetic Iran) has collected 1.5 trillion rials (nearly $35 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) to help the financially struggling families affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Launched at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan (April 23), the campaign aims to provide financial assistance to the needy affected by the pandemic.

Benefactors, charity centers, and religious organizations have distributed some 9.5 million warm food packages, worth 1.3 trillion rials (nearly $32 million), among the needy since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, Seyed Morteza Bakhtiari, head of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation said on Tuesday.

To date, 2,140,840 people have participated in the campaign, IRIB quoted Bakhtiari as saying.

In a televised speech on April 9, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Corona outbreak is a test for all the world, both for governments and for nations. The Iranian Nation shone brightly in this test, and at the peak of this national pride are the health professionals.

Besides the health professionals, volunteers, university students, and Basij forces have entered the battlefield against Corona and their services are indescribable, the Leader’s Twitter account wrote.

People's participation in the fight against Corona was truly amazing: 1) people feeding the needy; 2) turning houses into workshops to sew free masks; 3) disinfecting public areas; 4) talking to landlords and shop owners to exempt people from their rents.

FB/MG