Iran Warns COVID-19 Patients against Hiding Their Infection

Addressing a meeting of the National Headquarters of Fight against Coronavirus on Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani said a plan should be drawn up to tackle the problem.

“Here, I’m telling the Health Committee and the Social-Security Committee to do something and present a plan about those who hide their disease, so that it could be approved at our meetings,” he said.

“Hiding one’s infection is regarded as encroaching upon others’ rights. In other words, some people hide their disease from their family or friends or colleagues or a stranger in the street, approach them and talk to them even without wearing masks,” he noted.

The president said those infected should wear masks, at least.

“At least, I must wear a mask if I’m infected. In the first place, I mustn’t leave home, and if I have to go out, I must wear a mask, observe social distancing and tell the other person not to get close to me. There’s nothing wrong with it. We should institutionalize this culture,” he said.

He underlined all those who have contracted the disease should inform people around them of their infection.

“At workplace and elsewhere as well as places of gathering, all infected people must tell others that they have contracted the disease, and if somebody has found out that another person is infected, they should reveal it, so that we will be able to get through this problem,” he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, President Rouhani underlined that wearing masks in public places will be obligatory as of July 5, 2020. He said health protocols should also be observed as before.

“As of tomorrow (July 5, 2020), it will be compulsory to wear masks at roofed public places, so services should not be offered to people not wearing masks. This applies to all places where it is obligatory to wear masks. All of us should observe the protocol, and we should all help one another,” he said.