Iranian lawmakers convened Tuesday for the first time since Feb. 19, when the government officially acknowledged the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. In the absence of powerful speaker Ali Larijani, who has contracted the disease, his deputy Masoud Pezeshkian presided over the session, repeatedly rebuking fellow parliamentarians for their failure to maintain the appropriate distance between each other.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki briefed the assembly on the pandemic, saying his ministry had known that the virus would ultimately “plague our country and people.” But he assured the nation that it will be under full control by May 20. Nearly half of the capacity of Iranian hospitals, according to Namaki, remains unused and not a single patient has been turned away so far.
