Coronavirus kills member of council advising Iran's supreme leader

Iran says there are 66 dead amid 1,501 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease in the country.

That’s according to Iran Health Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Azizi, who gave the figure at a news conference Monday in Tehran.

Iran has the highest death toll from the virus outside of China, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Virus kills supreme leader's adviser

A member of a council that advises Iran's supreme leader died Monday after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness that is affecting members of the Iran's leadership.

Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died at a north Tehran hospital of the virus, state radio said. He was 71.

The council advises Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as settles disputes between the top cleric and parliament.

His death comes as other top officials have contracted the virus in Iran, which has the highest death toll in the world after China, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Those sick include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, better known as “Sister Mary,” the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the 444-day hostage crisis, state media reported. Also sick is Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill.

WHO sends supplies

Across the wider Mideast, there are over 1,150 cases of the new coronavirus, the majority of which are linked back to Iran.

Experts worry Iran's percentage of deaths to infections, around 5.5 percent, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be much higher than current figures show.

The World Health Organization on Monday sent its first planeload of assistance to Iran to help fight coronavirus, dispatching six medics with tonnes of medical equipment and test kits aboard a UAE military aircraft.

"Today's flight will carry 7.5 tonnes of medical equipment and supplies, primarily the critical items needed for infection prevention and control to support health care workers in Iran," said Robert Blanchard from the WHO in Dubai.

As the supplies worth more than $300,000 –– including gloves, surgical masks and respirators –– were loaded onto the United Arab Emira tes military transport plane in Dubai, Blanchard warned that global supplies were running low.

Measures against Covid-2019

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei, himself addressing journalists by teleconference over concerns about the virus, acknowledged the challenges remaining for Iran.

"We will have two difficult weeks ahead," he said.

Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi acknowledged some people had begun stockpiling medical supplies for profit in the country, urging prosecutors to show “no mercy for hoarders.”

"Hoarding sanitizing items is playing with people's lives and it is not ignorable," Raisi said.

Raisi also urged officials to grant “maximum” leave to prisoners. Activists have raised concern about the spread of the new coronavirus in Iran's prisons.

The British Embassy meanwhile has begun evacuations over the virus.

“Essential staff needed to continue critical work will remain,” the British Foreign Office said. “In the event that the situation deteriorates further, the ability of the British Embassy to provide assistance to British nationals from within Iran may be limited.”

Licking shrines to cure virus

While Iran has closed schools and universities to stop the spread of the virus, major shrines have remained open despite civilian authorities calling for them to be closed. 

Trying to prevent panic, the government has not locked down Qom, a city identified by authorities as the centre of contagion.

Some religious hardliners, including clerics, have dismissed the idea of closing the holy site to prevent the spread of the virus, arguing that the shrine in Qom is "a place for healing".

Videos on social media showed some people licking the doors and the burial mound inside the Masumeh shrine, defying advice by the Health Ministry to avoid touching or kissing any surfaces in the shrine, a common practice for pilgrims.

The holy cities of Mashhad and Qom in particular, both home to shrines, have been hard-hit by the virus. Worshipers often touch and kiss shrines as a sign of their faith. 

Authorities have been cleaning the shrines with disinfectants.

Police have arrested one man who posted a video showing himself licking the metal enclosing the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, according to reports by semiofficial news agencies. 

In the video, the man said he licked the metal to “allow others to visit the shrine with peace of mind.”