- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 63,627
- Points
- 113
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middl...-iranians-kill-themselves-with-poisonous-cure
Coronavirus: Iranians kill themselves with poisonous 'cure'
NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL21:34, Mar 27 2020
Play Video
1m 7s
Iran rejects US coronavirus relief whilst sanctions remain
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has rejected an offer of coronavirus aid and support from the United States, calling American leaders liars. Iran has been hit hard by the disease, but wants U.S. sanctions lifted as a priority.
Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.
The boy, now blind after his parents gave him toxic methanol in the mistaken belief it protects against the virus, is just one of hundreds of victims of an epidemic inside the pandemic now gripping Iran.
VAHID SALEMI/AP
In this March 13 photo, firefighters disinfect a square against the new coronavirus as a man takes film, in western Tehran, Iran.
Iranian media reports nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1000 sickened so far by ingesting methanol across the Islamic Republic, where drinking alcohol is banned and where those who do rely on bootleggers.
It comes as fake remedies spread across social media in Iran, where people remain deeply suspicious of the government after it downplayed the crisis for days before it overwhelmed the country.
Play Video
1m 25s
Richard Ratcliffe: Nazanin's temporary release is light at end of tunnel
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said her temporary release from prison in Iran will be "devastating" if it does not lead to her eventual release - but he is hoping developments signalled "light at the end of the tunnel".
READ MORE:
* How Tehran failed to halt the coronavirus outbreak
* Coronavirus: Trump's briefings a 'hallucinogenic dreamscape'
* Coronavirus: Iranian MPs sick as country bungles response to growing health crisis
* Iran official running counter-coronavirus task force has virus
"The virus is spreading and people are just dying off, and I think they are even less aware of the fact that there are other dangers around," said Dr. Knut Erik Hovda, a clinical toxicologist in Oslo who studies methanol poisoning and fears Iran's outbreak could be even worse than reported.
"When they keep drinking this, there's going to be more people poisoned."
Coronavirus: Iranians kill themselves with poisonous 'cure'
NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL21:34, Mar 27 2020
Play Video
1m 7s
Iran rejects US coronavirus relief whilst sanctions remain
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has rejected an offer of coronavirus aid and support from the United States, calling American leaders liars. Iran has been hit hard by the disease, but wants U.S. sanctions lifted as a priority.
Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.
The boy, now blind after his parents gave him toxic methanol in the mistaken belief it protects against the virus, is just one of hundreds of victims of an epidemic inside the pandemic now gripping Iran.
VAHID SALEMI/AP
In this March 13 photo, firefighters disinfect a square against the new coronavirus as a man takes film, in western Tehran, Iran.
Iranian media reports nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1000 sickened so far by ingesting methanol across the Islamic Republic, where drinking alcohol is banned and where those who do rely on bootleggers.
It comes as fake remedies spread across social media in Iran, where people remain deeply suspicious of the government after it downplayed the crisis for days before it overwhelmed the country.
Play Video
1m 25s
Richard Ratcliffe: Nazanin's temporary release is light at end of tunnel
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said her temporary release from prison in Iran will be "devastating" if it does not lead to her eventual release - but he is hoping developments signalled "light at the end of the tunnel".
READ MORE:
* How Tehran failed to halt the coronavirus outbreak
* Coronavirus: Trump's briefings a 'hallucinogenic dreamscape'
* Coronavirus: Iranian MPs sick as country bungles response to growing health crisis
* Iran official running counter-coronavirus task force has virus
"The virus is spreading and people are just dying off, and I think they are even less aware of the fact that there are other dangers around," said Dr. Knut Erik Hovda, a clinical toxicologist in Oslo who studies methanol poisoning and fears Iran's outbreak could be even worse than reported.
"When they keep drinking this, there's going to be more people poisoned."
