Nargues no longer keeps track of colleagues, doctors or nurses she saw dying from Covid-19. "The last date is Monday. His name was Vahid Monsef ", slides the doctor, joined by The world in Rasht, a city in the north of the country which is one of the foci of the virus. His colleagues continue to work without the necessary equipment, insofar as "There are no gloves, no masks or coveralls supposed to protect us from the virus."
The first death, most likely linked to Covid-19 in the city, took place on February 19. "He was a general practitioner who was in regular contact with the sick, explains Nargues. At the time, no one had a coronavirus test kit, but the symptoms were there. " As this doctor had not traveled to China, and taking into account the two weeks of incubation, Nargues thinks that the disease arrived in Iran "Early February, even late January".
Since then, the concern has spread beyond medical circles to spread throughout society, more defiant than ever with the government. Uncertainty and isolation prevail on the eve of the Iranian New Year, which falls this year on March 20. The regime is today accused of having masked the appearance of the first cases in the country so as not to jeopardize participation in the legislative elections on February 21.
Because it was only the day after the death of Nargues' colleague that the authorities finally, the day before the election, pronounced the term "coronavirus". And this, thanks to the relentlessness of another doctor. His brother had died of Covid-19 in the religious city of Qom, later presented as the epicenter of the virus. He had to fight to get an official diagnosis.
Official figures mocked
"This year, I haven't even grown the sabzeh ", the wheat or lentil sprouts that the Iranians put on a table, along with other objects, to welcome spring. "I don't have that head like everyone else", explains Nargues. Usually in March, the streets of downtown Rasht offer a joyful spectacle of color and smell. The city’s bazaar is packed with street vendors, offering fruits and vegetables and other items for the New Year’s celebrations. However, these days, the streets of Rasht are deserted. Since February 22, in the capital of Gilan, as elsewhere in the country, schools have been closed. Since then, the children of Nargues have only left their homes twice.
