“At the beginning of the New Year, the world was faced with the common challenge of coronavirus outbreak, but in Iran, the challenge was increased as the sanctions and coronavirus are coming at the same time,” said Rabiei on Monday.
“Corona has made people's lives harder all over the world. This has naturally happened doubly in our country, which is also facing sanctions,” he added.
“The US claims that the sanctions have had no effect on Iran's access to medicine. This claim is completely baseless. Due to US illegal sanctions, there is no possibility of banking relations at all. To buy medicine and medical equipment we need to exchange money,” Rabiei noted.
“Following the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, we increased hospital beds. There are now 13,000 empty hospital beds in the country. To date, more than 60 million people have been screened for COVID-19 which is a unique project in the world,” he said.
MNA/ 4889145