QOM (Iran): In Iran’s holy city, Qom, where the study of Shia and pilgrims walked to the temple which was believed to be the gateway to heaven, the Islamic Republic of the Islamic Coronavirus outbreak began and was still raging to this day.
While Iran works to vaccinate 80 million people, many people in Qom have not been looking for shots, said the authorities.
In the past week, the city only gave 17,000 shots every day from a capacity of 30,000, said the Head of the Ministry of Health Mohammad Reza Qadir.
One reason for it is doubt by some based on religion.
In the first days of the outbreak, religious leaders were reluctant to cover the temples and sacred sites even though there was a risk of transmission of viruses in a crowded and not too ventilated space.
Some sites are briefly covered but they are then reopened and remain available through repetitive pandemic phases.
Overall in Iran – Middle Eastern countries were the most difficult to beat by pandemic – there were 5.5 million confirmed viral infections.
More than 119,000 people have died, giving extraordinary pressure on the grave throughout the country.
Officials admitted that victims possibly much higher.
Behesht-e-Masoumeh Qom’s funeral is the last resting place for thousands.
Every day, the family can be seen crying when they bury the people they love, wrapped in traditional shrouds.
All have explored a new grave where they usually bury the dead very deep in the ground.
Many hospitals are filled with victims, some medically induced commas, even when authorities warn the possibility of a surge in infection that striking the state.
It was in Qom, about 125 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Tehran, that Coronavirus first held in Iran.
The authorities suggested it was distributed by an Iranian businessman who returned from China, where the virus first appeared in the Wuhan Province in 2019.
Qom Shiite Seminaries attracted Chinese students.
The city is also located along the $ 2.7 billion high speed train route built by Chinese companies and near solar power plants, Beijing helps build.
But whatever started a pandemic here, the virus is still raging.
The following is a picture gallery of Qom by the Associated Press Vahid Salemi photographer.