The Chief of Tehran Prevention Police on Monday said 500,000 masks hoarded by an Iranian man and his Chinese wife have been discovered in a home parking in eastern Tehran.
According to Keyvan Zahiri, neighbors alerted the police that the masks, now very highly in demand due to coronavirus outbreak in Iran, were being hoarded in the couple's parking.
The masks, purchased directly from the manufacturer, were confiscated by the authorities and were distributed to drugstores in the area.
The Ministry of Health on Saturday announced it will distribute masks for free at government healthcare facilities along with disinfectants and instructions for using them.
According to the latest official announcements the number of coronavirus deaths has risen to 12 and 47 had tested positive but a lawmaker today claimed that fifty had died of coronavirus in his constituency, Qom, where the first deaths were announced on Thursday. Health Ministry officials have refuted his claim.