TEHRAN - Health Ministry’s delay to announce Coronavirus outbreak in Qom city is justifiable.

Normally, unnatural incidents similar to epidemic diseases should be publicly announced after conducting accurate assessments and detailed probes in order not to create panic in the society.

Accordingly, accusing the Iranian Health Ministry of purposefully acted slowly to inform the society about a possible outbreak of coronavirus in the central part of the country is not correct, as the ministry is not logically and legally allowed to release news on the COVID-19 outbreak hurriedly.    

On the other hand, impacts of the coronavirus disease will be diagnosed two weeks after a patient is affected, therefore, the Health Ministry announced an outbreak of the virus in the central city of Qom after it was assured about the results of detailed studies.    

Certainly, the people in Tehran, Qom and any other place across the country should observe personal and public healthcare instructions. 

It should be mentioned that such precautionary measures, announced by the Health Ministry, did not terrify the people at all and instead they go on with their normal activities as they have been doing so in recent days. 

Unfortunately, certain hostile media outlets are trying to weaken the people’s trust in the government under any pretext even through spreading false news or accusing this or that ministry of being indifferent towards such vital issues.

Currently, each and every development related to COVID-19 is under the control by the relevant bodies across the country and the ministry is on high alert to inform people quickly about any new development.