WATCH: Iranian Deputy Health Minister With Coronavirus Has Coughing Fit on Live TV
Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, had a coughing fit on live TV, Monday.
On Iranian television, while talking about the coronavirus outbreak, Harirchi coughed repeatedly into his hand, which led the anchor to reportedly say, “You are coughing.”
Harirchi then smirked and said, “Maybe I should cover my mouth like this,” before positioning his elbow over his mouth.
This is #Iran’s deputy health minister, who we now know has #coronavirus, giving an interview about #COVID19 on state TV last night. The anchor says to him “you are coughing” he says “maybe I should cover my mouth like this” pic.twitter.com/2A7xRrCkTv
— Ali Arouzi (@aliarouzi) February 25, 2020
During a press conference on the coronavirus, Monday, Harirchi was also recorded repeatedly wiping sweat off of his forehead.
Deputy Health Minister of #Iran Harirchi who is infected with #CoronaVirus had a joint presser along with spokesman of the government Rabiei yesterday among journalists. A footage published earlier had raised suspicion that he might had been infected with the virus. pic.twitter.com/IWKsga06SC
— Abas Aslani (@AbasAslani) February 25, 2020
According to a BBC report on Tuesday, Harirchi “tested positive for the new coronavirus” just a day after he “denied covering up the scale of the outbreak.”
Recorded cases of the coronavirus surged in Italy, Iran, and South Korea this week as Italian officials set up quarantines.
According to CNN, the coronavirus has “infected at least 80,067 people worldwide and killed at least 2,700.”
Fears over the coronavirus plunged the stock market this week, with the Dow falling more than a thousand points on Monday.
