Leaked data reveals Iran hid actual Covid-19 death figures: Report

There have been irregularities in data between national and regional levels.

According to data leaked by an anonymous source, Iran tried to cover-up deaths from coronavirus and the actual figure is nearly triple to what the government has claimed.
The source which shared the data with the BBC, said they wanted to "shed light on truth" and end "political games" over the epidemic.
Although it cannot be verified whether the source works for Iranian government body, the government's own records appear to show discrepancies in the number of deaths occurring until mid-June.
While, undercounting deaths has been observed across the world due to testing capacity, the information leaked reveals Iranian authorities have reported significantly lower daily numbers despite having a record of all deaths. This suggests, they deliberately suppressed actual figures.
According to official figures, almost 42,000 people died with Covid-19 symptoms up to July 20, but the country's health ministry reported that 14,405 had died. Even the number of infected people was reported to be 278,827, but the actual figures stand at 451,024.
There have been irregularities in data between national and regional levels and the overall trend of cases and deaths in the leaked data is similar to official reports, albeit different in size.
Dr Pouladi (not their real name) told the BBC: "The ministry initially did not have testing kits and when they got them, they weren't used widely enough. The position of the security services was not to admit to the existence of coronavirus in Iran."
Dr Pouladi's claims were supported by two brothers who are doctors and who lost their own brother to the contagion. The brothers said that numerous patients admitted to the hospital where their brother died, had similar symptoms to Covid-19 but none of them were tested for the disease.