TEHERAN (IRAN) – Health officials on Sunday decided to play down the president’s figures that some 25 million people have been infected with the coronavirus. They said it was based on serological blood tests that measure exposure to the illness and could not be relied on to show the current condition of the disease.
The 25 million suggested by President Rouhani comprises a third of the population. The official figures climbed to 273,788 on Sunday, with 14,188 fatalities, said Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari.
“It is not possible to rely on serological tests to diagnose the current state of the disease,” the statement said.
Serological tests can find out if a person has been exposed to a disease by showing their antibody response. During the spread of the pandemic, they have been used by nations to survey samples of the population and estimate overall infection rates.
“Serological tests only show if people have been exposed to the virus in the past,” Mostafa Qanei, head of the government’s scientific committee of the coronavirus task force, told IRINN.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field