Iranian fire fighters and municipality workers disinfect a street in the capital Tehran for coronavirus COVID-19 on March 13, 2020. (Photo by IRNA)

Since the beginning of a coronavirus epidemic in Iran in late February, Iranian people from all walks of life have been engaged in a serious fight to do their part in curbing further spread of the virus across the country.

Among popular activities undertaken by ordinary people to curb the virus outbreak one can mention spontaneous movements to sanitize public places, including banks� ATMs, producing special masks, free distribution of disinfectants, and even attending health centers, clinics and hospitals to help nurses and other health workers in their drive to treat patients and provide health services to the public.

A video emerged on social media on March 1 showing a responsible Iranian woman disinfecting an ATM in line with collective efforts currently underway to contain the spread of coronavirus in Iran.

The video, recorded in the city of Khorramabad, shows an Iranian woman painstakingly disinfecting a bank�s ATM to do her part in preventing further spread of the deadly virus.

Iran�s firefighters and medical teams have been incessantly spraying disinfectant solutions to sanitize the streets of various Iranian cities, from the capital Tehran all the way to the northeastern shrine city of Mashhad as part of nationwide campaign to curb the virus outbreak and mitigate its spread.

In another instance, an Iranian man bought hundreds of disinfectants and distributed them among people amid coronavirus outbreak in the city of Pars Abad in Iran�s Ardabil Province.

In a relevant development, a viral video on social media showed an altruistic Iranian family producing and giving away free face masks just the night medical supplies became scarce in the city of Arak.

Iran�s military forces have been also fully active in this regard both after and before Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei issued an edict on March 15, ordering establishment of a health and treatment base to prevent further spread of an ongoing coronavirus epidemic in the country.

The Leader emphasized that there is some evidence that this incident might be a ‘biological attack�, and this measure could be also some form of biological defense drill, which would add to national power and strength of the country.

In line with the Leader�s command, Iran�s Army announced on Sunday that it has begun drills to prevent and monitor the outbreak of a new coronavirus.

The Army announced that the exercises will be conducted under the command of its bio-defense base and the supervision of Deputy Chief of Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, adding that the Ground Forces will play the main role in the war games.

On Saturday, Iran�s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) opened three field hospitals in northern and southern Iranian provinces in line with efforts to fight the spreading outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Given the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country and people�s need to have access to health and medical centers, two hospitals that contain 30-40 beds have started their work in the city of Borazjan in the southern Bushehr Province and a 54-bed mobile hospital in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on Saturday.

He added that another 74-bed mobile hospital has opened in the northern city of Rasht and noted that the hospital�s capacity can be increased to 120 beds in order to provide more services to confirmed coronavirus patients.

In the city of Qom, south of Tehran, clerics and clerical students of religious seminaries have declared their readiness to attend various hospitals and other health centers to provide free services to patients under supervision of specialist doctors, and have spared to effort and sacrifice in this regard.

According to Dr. Hamed Shafiei, who heads Qom�s Forqani hospital where the first cases of coronavirus were detected in Iran, a total of 150 clerics are providing voluntary round-the-clock services to patients hospitalized there.

The official noted that the clerics are working in three shifts at the hospital, providing all kinds of services, noting that during a visit to the facility by inspectors from the World Health Organization (WHO), the inspectors were amazed to see the clergy providing such services along with the hospital�s regular nurses and caregivers.

There were viral photos on Iran�s social media in past days showing a young cleric in Qom who spent his time, day and night, to help patients diagnosed with the virus while his pregnant wife was hospitalized at the ICU as she expected a twin. He continued to be at hand, helping patients despite the fact that his wife died later due to cardiac complications of coronavirus infection.

SOURCE: PRESS TV