[IRNA] Worried and Tired of Facing Coronavirus

By Afshin Shaeri

The first instance of COVID19 infection in Iran was announced on February 19th, 2020 —two days before the parliamentary election. The very first news of the virus, here, was passing of two people in Qom, where the number rose to four in just one day. Then the virus quickly spread to Gilan, Markazi and other provinces. Passing of people in Iran by coronavirus was a totally unexpected piece of news and specialists came to the conclusion that the virus had been transmitted to Iran a while ago. Iranian Ministry of Health had started some preparations for any emergency situation since the disease outbreak was announced in Wuhan, China. Journalists also tried hard to know the virus and provide people with the latest information about it. The disease even didn’t have a name until the World Health Organization called it Covid19. Since the transmission of the virus to Iran, the National Corona Headquarters was established under the supervision of President Rouhani. The Minister of Health assumed a central role in the headquarters and the ministry’s director of public relations, Mr. Kianoosh Jahanpoor became its spokesperson. Mr. Jahanpoor presented the death statistics as well as infection and PCR test result statistics on TV on a daily basis. He also answered journalists’ questions about Covid19 in Iran and about the rumors and the latest measures to fight the disease. In one of the press meetings he claimed China hadn’t disclosed all facts about Covid19. This claim created controversy and he faced a big political challenge. Rumors about the origin of the virus still go around the Iranian society. Some people believe human manipulation or even deliberateness might be a reasonable assumption. Some people think the virus may be created in laboratories. In IRNA, my colleagues and I have devoted a lot of energy to cover news of the virus. The attempt in IRNA to deliver news about Covid19 with speed, accuracy and exactness started even before 2020. The agency has published hundreds of interviews with specialists, press meeting stories, photo reports, infographics and field reports. The desks for economic, scientific and provincial news as well as several other desks and news departments were involved in the process of raising public awareness and providing people with news about the virus, however the desk for social news carried the heaviest burden because in IRNA, covering the health and medical news is the responsibility of the social desk. What’s more, a working group consisting of IRNA's high-ranking officials has coordinated the Covid19-related activities of editors and journalists in domestic, international and provincial news departments. Four months have passed since the epidemic struck the country. My wife, daughter and I have participated in disease prevention efforts like other people. My parents are in their 70s and live in Karaj, some 30 kilometers away from Tehran, the capital. I was so worried about their health that I didn’t visit them for about two months since the epidemic broke out. I only made video calls to keep in touch with them. This was the first year ever that I didn’t visit my parents on the eve of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. My wife showed minor symptoms of a flu-like disease. Perhaps it was Covid19. She had mild fever, felt body pain for 24 hours and lost her sense of smell for almost two weeks, which made us worried about her. However she got better soon. My daughter and I didn’t display any symptoms. Four months after the official announcement of the transmission of coronavirus to Iran, 200.000 people have been infected by the virus and around 10.000 people have died, according to the ministry of health. The statistics are collected on the basis of 1 million 400 thousand PCR tests results. The same statistics show 160.000 people have been cured leaving hospitals. Everyday about 2.500 infected people are kept in ICU. One big challenge, at first, was to find a single authentic source of statistics. Local sources provided their own provincial information, which sometimes did not show consistency with country-wide statistics which were complied and provided by the Ministry of Health. That’s why the Ministry decided that statistics had to be presented to the media only by the National Corona Headquarters or the ministry’s spokesperson. The new decision to build an integrated system of statistics fueled new rumors throughout social networks. The rumors spread so fast that the Minister of Health once said two epidemics are sweeping the country: Covid19 and rumors. The demand for transparency and information provision about the epidemic grew fast. Some people were skeptical of official news and this, fueled more rumors about the disease. Health Ministry officials felt under pressure and, at first, they did not show interest in doing interviews. They knew holding press meetings and gathering people together would entail additional health risks. Finally, the Ministry of Health introduced a gadget for online press conferences on March 17th, two days before the Iranian New Year. Since then, the ministry held one or two online press conferences per day. Journalists raised different topics during online press meetings. At first, public awareness and information provision, shortage of equipments and treatment procedures in hospitals were the main issues. After a while, early shortages were alleviated and journalists asked more questions about management and prevention measures like temporary closure of some businesses, teleworking, social distancing and public transportation. Even tiredness and casualties of medical staff were among the hot issues. At the same time, reporters brought into focus the high level of stress among families caused by the epidemic. The fact that a number of journalists got Covid19 and at least one of them died of the disease put other journalists under increased pressure. The pandemic is not over yet and there are no bright prospects of how it will be resolved. Current estimates predict people need to wait one year or even more until the crisis is resolved. Journalists update themselves on the latest developments and carefully investigate the latest news subjects. Not only journalists, but also ordinary people are tired of the situation. The early general restrictions are relaxed, but people are advised to stay home or use face masks outside. People seem to have lost their sensitivity to the crisis and want to live a normal life – a leap in the dark. However you can see a deep concern about the future in their eyes. In their heart, people are still worried that their dear ones may catch the disease or lose their lives.