Covid-19: Across West Asia, life in lockdown is a study in contrast
Iran was Middle East’s focal point in the first days of the coronavirus epidemic, where the hotspot was the country’s holiest city of Qom.
In the early days of March, a striking image of Mecca’s Al Haram Mosque went viral. The popular Saudi mosque was empty. Its white floor stood out in contrast to the towering Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site.
In contrast to many countries around the world where lockdowns came too late, the Saudis had swung into action ahead of time in February end, decisively closing doors to tourists and pilgrims.
The measures came even before the kingdom reported its first case of coronavirus disease Covid-19.
“Other countries that didn’t take matters seriously should have followed all the measures taken by the kingdom to protect its people,” G Sultan, a resident of Riyadh, told HT. “If you go to the supermarkets, you find what you want and in very abundant quantities, and the prices haven’t changed.”
Sultan lives at home with his family, closely following up on his children, who are studying through distance education.
“The government has instituted strict measures to prevent people from leaving home, yet you can get what you want by using electronic requests,” he says.
Today, Saudi Arabia is the worst-hit among the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group of Arab oil monarchies. It had reported 2,179 cases of confirmed infections till Saturday and 29 deaths. The first case positive coronavirus case the country was a Saudi national returning from Iran through Bahrain.
Iran was Middle East’s focal point in the first days of the coronavirus epidemic, where the hotspot was the country’s holiest city of Qom. The virus quickly spread to other cities across the country and its neighbours, including several of its regional allies, suffered outbreaks that were linked to Iran.
“I don’t think they (the government) are doing enough - at all,” said an Iranian man who lives in Hormozgan. He wished not to be named.
“There haven’t been quarantines, no roads have been closed, people are free to travel, there are still planes coming and going. It’s the people who are taking care of each other.”
“In Iran, it has been disaster after disaster - the killings of protesters, the shooting of the Ukrainian plane, and now the outbreak. It has just been a never-ending nightmare. I am just happy to be alive, and I try everything I can to protect the people I care about,” he added.
The death toll in Iran from the outbreak has reached 3,603, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement broadcast live on state TV on Sunday. 151 people have died in the past 24 hours, he said. The Islamic Republic, the Middle Eastern country worst-hit by the epidemic, now has a total of 58,226 infections.
Iran has been accused of covering up the crisis in the country. On March 12, the Washington Post published satellite images of a mass grave near Qom, the epicentre of Iran’s outbreak, indicating that the death toll is likely much higher than the state is publicly admitting. Iran has denied these claims.
The story is nearly the same across the border in Iraq. The health ministry says Covid-19 has killed 56 Iraqis and infected more than 800 others. But many suspect the real numbers to be much higher, as only a few thousand people from a population of 40 million have been tested.
Iraq on Friday suspended the work of Reuters news agency for three months, following a report by the agency the previous day that said the Iraqi government was underreporting confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. The Reuters report said the true number ranged from 3,000 to 9,000.
Baghdad resident Zainab laments the country was too late to react. “They were late in closing the airports. They allowed Iranian visitors to come in,” says the 23-year-old engineer.
“Curfew procedures are not serious. Plus, the government hasn’t been firm with some religious groups who insist on gathering for rituals.”