TEHRAN — Top commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have donated 20 percent of their monthly salary to coronavirus relief efforts, according to IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif.

In a statement on Sunday, Sharif said the IRGC commanders have taken part in a countrywide exercise launched by Basij, called “Devout Help”, following a call by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to help the needy ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.

According to Sharif, the donation will be granted to people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak, Tasnim reported.

He said the donation will continue until the coronavirus crisis is over in Iran.

The government announced last week that it will allocate 50,000 billion rials ($305 million) to Unemployment Insurance Fund to support those who have lost their jobs amid the outbreak of coronavirus.

“To prevent the spread of the virus, applicants are urged to fill out online forms for unemployment benefits at the newly-designed website 'bimebikari.mcls.gov.ir' within 30 days, rather than going personally to the ministry’s bureaus,” an official stated.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also agreed with a request by the government to withdraw 1 billion euro from the National Development Fund to contain the highly transmissible coronavirus, the government announced last Monday.

President Hassan Rouhani thanked the Leader for his consent and ordered the money to be spent mostly on purchasing the equipment and goods necessary for the Health Ministry from local producers, especially those run by knowledge-based companies.

The president also said the details of the necessary aid to the Unemployment Insurance Fund will be discussed in a session of the government's economic headquarters in future weeks.

The total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in Iran has reached 71,686, of whom 4,474 have died and 43,894 recovered.

In remarks on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei lauded the Armed Forces for truly using all their capacity to deal with the virus, including equipping hospitals and infirmaries by manufacturing medical equipment. 

He said the Armed Forces and the youth displayed new capacities in confronting this matter.

On Sunday, Rouhani said Iran has handled the novel coronavirus outbreak better than Europe and the United States, assuring that the country’s stocks of basic commodities are replenished better than ever. 

“We had a sanctions virus, to which the coronavirus was added, but you did not have the sanctions virus. You have one virus while we have two viruses,” he said, addressing Europe and the United States.

“We did better than you in the fight against the coronavirus,” he reiterated.

“This is an honor for all, for all our loved ones and people. Yes, our situation is relatively good in the fight against the disease and the dangerous virus, and our situation is better in comparison with some countries,” the president added.

MH/PA