Iran’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said that releasing a province-by-province breakdown of coronavirus statistics would create the “risk of further spread of the virus” on Thursday, after three days of refusing to release the breakdown.

Iranian authorities have been accused of a lack of transparency in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and a recent report commissioned by Iran’s parliament said that the official statistics were likely lower than the true number of coronavirus cases and deaths. The health ministry, however, is releasing even less detailed information on the extent of the outbreak.

“Releasing the provincial statistics would result in travel from provinces with a high prevalence of the coronavirus to provinces with lower or moderate prevalence, and as a result, these regions will face the danger of increased spread of the virus,” Haririchi told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

He added that interpretation of scientific data “should be done in a general and national manner, and should be announced to the people with transparency.”

Harirchi had previously made international headlines at the beginning of the outbreak when he denied rumors of a coronavirus coverup on television while visibly ill. He tested positive for the coronavirus and was quarantined soon after.

The novel coronavirus has killed 4,869 and sickened 77,995 people in Iran, including 52,229 patients who have recovered and 3,594 who are still in intensive care, according to statistics released by health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur on Thursday.

A report by the Parliamentary Research Center, an organization that provides research for members of Iran’s parliament, claimed that the government has undercounted coronavirus deaths by nearly one half and the number of cases by an order of magnitude.

However, the report did not allege a coverup. Instead, it blamed a lack of comprehensive testing.

A health ministry official acknowledged that the government has undercounted coronavirus statistics, but said that limits on the number of test kits available have made it impossible to accurately estimate the number of infections anywhere in the world, according to BBC Persian.

The Iranian government is attempting to roll out a “smart distancing” program, which supposedly allows businesses to reopen while avoiding the further spread of the coronavirus. Critics inside the government have warned that the country is unprepared to implement the measures needed to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections.

The health ministry said on Thursday that the daily death rate has continued to fall, giving authorities reason to be optimistic.

A recent survey commissioned by the Tehran city government shows that an increasing number of Iranians trust the official statistics on the coronavirus pandemic as of the beginning of April, although about 46% of people still have low trust in the government.

A more worrying sign has emerged from Mazandaran, which had seen the fourth-largest outbreak in the country. Doctors in the northern province reported an increase in the number of coronavirus cases for the first time after three weeks of declining caseloads.

“The increase in the number of outpatient and suspected coronavirus disease referrals to medical centers in Mazandaran Province in recent days shows that people do not pay attention to the health protocols,” Dr. Seyed Abbas Mousavi, president of the Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, told the Islamic Republic News Agency.

“Not only can neglecting the health protocols increase the number of patients, but the [second round of] shelter-in-place quarantine will be harsher and last longer than the first time, in which case staying at home will also be harder than the first time,” Dr. Baba Mahmudi, head of the infectious disease department at the university, added.

Matthew Petti is a national security reporter at the National Interest. Follow him on Twitter: @matthew_petti.

Image: Reuters.