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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe‘s husband fears she is at risk from coronavirus in Evin prison amid reports one inmate has died.
Richard Ratcliffe intensified his calls on the British government to secure his wife’s release saying it has “an obligation to keep her alive”.
British-Iranian mother Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, has spent four years in prison on espionage charges which she strenuously denies.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the UK’s ambassador to Iran, where at least 26 patients have died so far and hundreds are infected, has raised concerns with the regime, saying official denials are not always “authoritative”.
He told MPs today that UK officials are trying to find out more as the country struggled with an outbreak centred on a holy site.
There have been reports of three cases in Evin jail and rumours of a death on Wednesday in its clinic.
Mr Ratcliffe, 45, said his wife’s family in Iran have been told face-to-face visits in the prison are now banned, inmates have run out of disinfectant and his wife has cold-like symptoms.
Coronavirus – In pictures
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Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival
Reuters
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Ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus arrive at a hospital in Daegu
AFP via Getty Images
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People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home
PA
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Tourists wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival
Reuters
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Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside
PA
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A woman wearing a face mask on the London Underground
PA
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Staff at St Thomas’s Hospital
Jeremy Selwyn
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A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong
Reuters
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Passengers relax on board the Holland America-operated Westerdam cruise ship, which has been denied permission to dock in Thailand over coronavirus fears
via Reuters
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Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus
Getty Images
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Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province
Reuters
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Chinese paramilitary police officers wearing protectieve gears transfer pails of disinfectant in Yunmeng county, outside Xiaogan City in China’s central Hubei province
AFP via Getty Images
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A Meituan deliveryman waits to pick up food next to a propaganda banner near a residential area, following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country, in Beijing, China
Reuters
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A taxi driver wearing a face mask pulls out of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex, where a healthcare worker is among cases of coronavirus that have been confirmed in the UK
PA
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Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo
AFP via Getty Images
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A general view of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex
PA
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A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February 11, 2020
AFP via Getty Images
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People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port
AFP via Getty Images
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A man wearing a protective face mask commutes on a road as it rains in Shanghai o
AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
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A patient covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan
AFP via Getty Images
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A woman wears a mask while crossing London Bridg
Getty Images
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The Costa Smeralda cruise ship of Costa Crociere, carrying around 6,000 passengers, is docked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia after a health alert due to a Chinese couple and a possible link to coronavirus on board, in Civitavecchia, Italy
Reuters
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A medical official takes the body temperature of a man at the departure hall of the airport in Changsha, Hunan Province, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, China
Reuters
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Officers in protective gear escort a person who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and had tested positive for coronavirus
Reuters
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Quarantine Officials on the Diamond Princess cruise ship
PA
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A chartered passenger jet carrying evacuated citizens from China taxis on the runway after landing at the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
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Getty Images
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A police vehicle enters the gates of the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
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A plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire
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Passengers wear face masks as the push their luggage after arriving from a flight at Terminal 5 of London Heathrow Airport
AFP via Getty Images
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French citizens arrive and settle aboard of an evacuation plane with destination southeastern France, before departure from Wuhan Airport (WUH), China
AFP via Getty Images
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Staff members of a funeral parlour wearing protective suits disinfecting a colleague after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, during the virus outbreak in the city
AFP via Getty Images
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Base personnel patrol inside a gate at the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
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A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China
PA
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Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China
REUTERS
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An ambulance carrying a South Korea citizen repatriated from Wuhan, China who has shown flu-like symptoms during in-flight screening for novel coronavirus leaves Gimpo airport
Getty Images
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Coaches enter RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where a plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China
PA
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Medical staff walk to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases building at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore
AFP via Getty Images
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Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy
Reuters
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Empty racks where face masks are usually sold at a DIY store in west London. Pharmacies are working to boost stocks as demand for face masks in the UK appears to be on the rise amid fears about the coronavirus
PA
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Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok
AFP via Getty Images
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People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Reuters
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A man hoards the last few bottles of alcohol left in a pharmacy, after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Reuters
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Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a woman’s temperature on the underground in Beijing
Getty Images
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An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city
AFP via Getty Images
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Passengers in the arrivals concourse at Heathrow Terminal 4, London, as the Government’s Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus
PA
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Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
AP
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An arrivals board showing a cancelled flight from Wuhan to Heathrow Terminal 4, London, as the Government’s Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus
PA
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Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing
AP
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Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus
AFP via Getty Images
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Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China
AP
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Buddhist monks wear masks as they walk near Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodi
AP
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Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The builders will complete the 1,000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of 2019-nCoV patients in the city
Getty Images
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A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing
AFP via Getty Images
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Medical staff transfer a patient suspected of having the new coronavirus at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong
Reuters
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Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk outside the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau
AFP via Getty Images
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A Chinese passenger checked for a fever by a health worker at a Beijing railway station
Getty Images
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An employee works to prevent a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
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A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan
Reuters
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Excavators at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. – China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken hundreds of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo b
AFP via Getty Images
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An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution against a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
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Medical staff carry a box as they walk at the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
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CDC/Dr Fred Murphy
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have a halo, or crown-like (corona) appearance when viewed under an electron microscope
CDC/Dr Fred Murphy
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The resident wear masks to buy vegetables in the market in Wuhan
Getty Images
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Staff sell masks at a Yifeng Pharmacy in Wuhan
AP
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Masked workers disinfect a passenger throughfare at the Taoyuan International Airport
AFP via Getty Images
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A rescue worker walks past a notice about the virus that has broken out in China
Reuters
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Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival
Reuters
2/69
Ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus arrive at a hospital in Daegu
AFP via Getty Images
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People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home
PA
4/69
Tourists wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival
Reuters
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Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside
PA
6/69
A woman wearing a face mask on the London Underground
PA
7/69
Staff at St Thomas’s Hospital
Jeremy Selwyn
8/69
A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong
Reuters
9/69
Passengers relax on board the Holland America-operated Westerdam cruise ship, which has been denied permission to dock in Thailand over coronavirus fears
via Reuters
10/69
Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus
Getty Images
11/69
Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province
Reuters
12/69
Chinese paramilitary police officers wearing protectieve gears transfer pails of disinfectant in Yunmeng county, outside Xiaogan City in China’s central Hubei province
AFP via Getty Images
13/69
A Meituan deliveryman waits to pick up food next to a propaganda banner near a residential area, following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country, in Beijing, China
Reuters
14/69
A taxi driver wearing a face mask pulls out of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex, where a healthcare worker is among cases of coronavirus that have been confirmed in the UK
PA
15/69
Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo
AFP via Getty Images
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A general view of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex
PA
17/69
A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February 11, 2020
AFP via Getty Images
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People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with around 3,600 people quarantined onboard due to fears of the new coronavirus, at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port
AFP via Getty Images
19/69
A man wearing a protective face mask commutes on a road as it rains in Shanghai o
AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
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A patient covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan
AFP via Getty Images
23/69
A woman wears a mask while crossing London Bridg
Getty Images
24/69
The Costa Smeralda cruise ship of Costa Crociere, carrying around 6,000 passengers, is docked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia after a health alert due to a Chinese couple and a possible link to coronavirus on board, in Civitavecchia, Italy
Reuters
25/69
A medical official takes the body temperature of a man at the departure hall of the airport in Changsha, Hunan Province, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, China
Reuters
26/69
Officers in protective gear escort a person who was on board cruise ship Diamond Princess and had tested positive for coronavirus
Reuters
27/69
Quarantine Officials on the Diamond Princess cruise ship
PA
28/69
A chartered passenger jet carrying evacuated citizens from China taxis on the runway after landing at the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
29/69
Getty Images
30/69
A police vehicle enters the gates of the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
31/69
A plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire
32/69
Passengers wear face masks as the push their luggage after arriving from a flight at Terminal 5 of London Heathrow Airport
AFP via Getty Images
33/69
French citizens arrive and settle aboard of an evacuation plane with destination southeastern France, before departure from Wuhan Airport (WUH), China
AFP via Getty Images
34/69
Staff members of a funeral parlour wearing protective suits disinfecting a colleague after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, during the virus outbreak in the city
AFP via Getty Images
35/69
Base personnel patrol inside a gate at the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton
AFP via Getty Images
36/69
A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China
PA
37/69
Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China
REUTERS
38/69
An ambulance carrying a South Korea citizen repatriated from Wuhan, China who has shown flu-like symptoms during in-flight screening for novel coronavirus leaves Gimpo airport
Getty Images
39/69
Coaches enter RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where a plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China
PA
40/69
Medical staff walk to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases building at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore
AFP via Getty Images
41/69
Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy
Reuters
42/69
Empty racks where face masks are usually sold at a DIY store in west London. Pharmacies are working to boost stocks as demand for face masks in the UK appears to be on the rise amid fears about the coronavirus
PA
43/69
Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok
AFP via Getty Images
44/69
People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Reuters
45/69
A man hoards the last few bottles of alcohol left in a pharmacy, after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Reuters
46/69
Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a woman’s temperature on the underground in Beijing
Getty Images
47/69
An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city
AFP via Getty Images
48/69
Passengers in the arrivals concourse at Heathrow Terminal 4, London, as the Government’s Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus
PA
49/69
Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
AP
50/69
An arrivals board showing a cancelled flight from Wuhan to Heathrow Terminal 4, London, as the Government’s Cobra committee is meeting in Downing Street to discuss the threat to the UK from coronavirus
PA
51/69
Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing
AP
52/69
Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus
AFP via Getty Images
53/69
Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China
AP
54/69
Buddhist monks wear masks as they walk near Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodi
AP
55/69
Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The builders will complete the 1,000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of 2019-nCoV patients in the city
Getty Images
56/69
A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing
AFP via Getty Images
57/69
Medical staff transfer a patient suspected of having the new coronavirus at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong
Reuters
58/69
Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk outside the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau
AFP via Getty Images
59/69
A Chinese passenger checked for a fever by a health worker at a Beijing railway station
Getty Images
60/69
An employee works to prevent a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
61/69
A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan
Reuters
62/69
Excavators at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. – China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken hundreds of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo b
AFP via Getty Images
63/69
An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution against a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
64/69
Medical staff carry a box as they walk at the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
65/69
CDC/Dr Fred Murphy
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have a halo, or crown-like (corona) appearance when viewed under an electron microscope
CDC/Dr Fred Murphy
66/69
The resident wear masks to buy vegetables in the market in Wuhan
Getty Images
67/69
Staff sell masks at a Yifeng Pharmacy in Wuhan
AP
68/69
Masked workers disinfect a passenger throughfare at the Taoyuan International Airport
AFP via Getty Images
69/69
A rescue worker walks past a notice about the virus that has broken out in China
Reuters
The accountant, who lives with the couple’s daughter Gabriella, five, in West Hampstead, said: “ Hopefully it is just a cold… We have to keep calm, but she is sitting in a prison feeling a bit ill, feeling worried, with no ability to sanitise things properly. Nazanin told her mum yesterday that the prison has run out of disinfectant, and run out of antiseptic soap, and the only thing they have got is washing-up liquid.”
He added: “If there is coronavirus running through the prison then this could have nasty consequences. Nazanin is clearly in harm’s way.”
Experts warned the epidemic in Iran is far worse than authorities say. Dr Homayoun Kheyri, a cell biologist, said: “You should be honest with the people. The cases are all over Iran.”
