Public cooperation for overcoming coronavirus biggest new-year present

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran's President described the implementation of the social distancing plan essential for overcoming the coronavirus quicker, saying, "We must appreciate this people for staying home and not travelling because of respecting each other's rights".

Speaking on Saturday at the session of National Task Force for Fighting Coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said, "I hope in implementing the Social Distancing plan, we will not have to fine anyone".

Parts of President Hassan Rouhani's speech is as follows:

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Congratulations to our dear and honourable people and to all freedom-seeking people on the birthday of Imam Hussein (AS) and his beloved son, Imam Sajjad (AS).

First, in the days when our people have been facing the coronavirus, the pillars of our country's health are so strong that it has not only resisted, but if it continues for several weeks or gain peak, our hospitals, doctors, and nurses are ready for treatment.

Thank God, we are not one of those countries where patients lie in the hospital hall; thank God we are not among those countries the death toll of which is so high that they bring large refrigerated trucks to the hospital to be able to carry them.

This is a great job that the nation, doctors and nurses and the healthcare system have done.

Thank God we have strengthened our health system so much over the past six years that anyone infected with coronavirus enters hospitals today gets 90% of government and insurance payments and he only pays 10%, while in different countries, from the first test they want to take, they are charged between $1,300 to $1,500 for a night in hospital.

This infrastructure created in our country is becoming clearer to all people around the world today. Our nation should be proud of the work and plans of its servants who have all worked hard to make this happen. And you can see how easily we are all integrated today. We were, of course, integrated; but only sometimes some undermine this integration a little.

It is true that we are suffering from coronavirus today, but there is unity, integrity, kindness and fraternity throughout our society; there are fewer people who are looking for mistakes, but the overwhelming majority of people, especially the young people and all those active in the media are alongside each other.

There is a very important step that people must be aware of, and that is when a nurse can work comfortably at a hospital, in addition to all the protective equipment provided by the ministry of health, the peace of mind that she has in the morning, and when she returns home, if she needs food, stores are ready and she can pick up foodstuff.

Thank God we are not one of those countries where food is available from 8am to 10am where if anyone goes at 10am, he faces empty shelves until tomorrow morning.

You see, how well the transfer of food from the port or the farmland where the food is shipped to the warehouses and from there to the stores and from stores to the people is happening without any interruption.

In a telephone conversations and videoconference with many governor generals, I asked all of them if they had any problems in their province with the food and healthcare produces. People are provided with food every hour and whenever they want, and everybody is working in this regard.

What if hospitals do not have electricity, water and gas for one hour? What if their ambulances don't have petrol? Thank God, everything is provided. All refineries, oil wells, power plants, water treatment plants and the country's major transportation system are all active and ready to operate all over the country.

The Armed Forces work everywhere for security and are everywhere. The police, the Basij, the Army and IRGC are all at work and this is a great honour for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Another point I want to tell people is that in the last two weeks of our holidays, the first week we talked to people and asked them not to travel, and in the second week we took some more strict steps.

I want to thank the people for their cooperation in the first week. In that week, there was no coercion, no police blocking the road, just advising people not to travel and to pay attention to health principles and stay home.

I asked the Governor-General of Hormozgan how much their Nowruz travellers' reduction was this year compared to last year, and he told me that they had 94 per cent reduction in travel.

Some people have to travel between cities, and there is no choice. The point is that some 10 to 20% did not pay attention. In fact, this is ethics, culture and kindness and people's attention to each other's rights.

If God forbid I got the coronavirus, hid it, and didn't tell my friends or family, it's one of the great betrayals. It is our duty to say it if we feel ill.

If God forbid, we get sick, we must observe the social distance. Today at this meeting. We asked people to stay in their own province and not travel to other provinces.

There are also penalties for people who do not listen, which I hope will never happen. If people cooperate well with the police and law enforcement on the road, there is no need to fine them.

If you don't want to cooperate, we all know it's not too difficult to make a paper to show to the police that you live in a certain province and the police don't have time to check it for hours.

We all have to cooperate, because this plan is for our own good. All this plan is about is to overcome this problem quicker, and return to normal conditions.

So those who are identified must be separated from the society and return to their society when they are well; this is not a long one; it is a two-week period.

There were, of course, other plans discussed at the meeting as well: those that spread rumour and disturb the minds of. The person who loses his spirit and is exposed to stress, will hurt his body and the virus can reach its goals faster.

But at the same time, I have mentioned once again and I want to say it again to dear people. Dear and honorable people! We know we are under sanctions, but we allocated 20% of our budget this year, about 100 trillion rials to fighting coronavirus.

Again, in the end, I assure our dear people: the government, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and all the ministries like Petroleum and Energy that must meet the needs of the people, the armed forces from the police, the army, the Basij and the IRGC are all at work.

I take this opportunity here and congratulate Pasdar Day to the dear brothers of the Revolutionary Guards, who have always been at the forefront of serving and defending the security of the country since the first day of its formation in the year 1979 and are still doing their best today.

The success of all our plans relies on our unity, and God willing, we will take this path until we reach full success.

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

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