key: cord-0823250-dimba11r
authors: Mohammadzadeh, Nima; Shahriary, Mahla; Shirmohammadlou, Neda; Lohrasbi, Vahid
title: A glance at the prevalence of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in Iran: Strengths and weaknesses
date: 2020-05-04
journal: Infection control and hospital epidemiology
DOI: 10.1017/ice.2020.193
sha: 408f04f8b86c4cf483cede253f35117a49a2a675
doc_id: 823250
cord_uid: dimba11r

nan

each province to providing special services to COVID-19 patients, (4) daily disinfecting public transportation like subways, buses, and taxis, (5) canceling sport competitions, cinemas, theaters, weddings, and funerals, and closing all schools and universities, (6) providing distance and online learning infrastructure for students (7) increasing the capacity of the production of masks and disinfectants by >7 times, (8) extensively informing and promoting a culture of healthcare by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting system and other media, and launching mobile software, websites and telephone answering systems to address concerns and questions about COVID-19, (9) encouraging people to eat homemade healthy foods instead of fast food, (10) mobilizing and recruiting all national government and nongovernmental organizations to fight COVID-19 under the auspices of "The National Headquarters for Coronavirus," (11) governmental support of small and large businesses to compensate for the loss of revenue and jobs, and finally (12) publication of a COVID-19 surveillance guideline by the Ministry of Health for various organizations (eg, prisons, barracks, etc) to stop and reverse the growing epidemic trend (Table 1 ). 2, 3 Iran has established an acceptable track record in the control of infectious diseases; but it still has very big challenges to reach an ideal level. These challenges include the following 2,4 : (1) imposition of travel restrictions by the government on religious cities, like Mashhad and Qom, is difficult; (2) approaching ancient Nowruz ceremonies, like Christmas, are traditionally associated with shopping and large gatherings of people; (3) a failure to quarantine the first city with positive cases of COVID-19 (Qom) with subsequent spread of infection to most provinces of Iran was hampered by the Islamic Consultative Assembly election of 2020 and lack of cooperation by the people; (4) lack of attention by the people to government warnings about travel to Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan provinces (popular holiday destinations in Iran) after the closure of schools and universities to aid in spreading the infection; (5) lack of money, medical equipment, and laboratory diagnostic kits because of international sanctions; (6) hoarding of medical devices such as gloves, masks, and disinfectants by profiteers; and (7) lack of space for the quarantine of people with suspected infection in the early days of the outbreak.

Finally, the number of cases in Iran places it in the statistical middle of the COVID-19 outbreak countries (Fig. 1 ). If Iran tries to overcome to all challenges that are described above, it will be able to manage this crisis. We daresay that "where there's a will, there's a way," and we hope that these challenges will be overcome soon.

Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia

Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education website

Initial public health response and interim clinical guidance for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak-United States

Brief outcome of five decades of battle with infectious diseases in Iran

Acknowledgments. None.Financial support. No financial support was provided relevant to this article.Conflicts of interest. All authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.Supplementary material. To view supplementary material for this article, please visit https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.193