As Iranians were preparing to put behind them a bitter year full of sorrowful events, the coronavirus appeared as an unexpected and unwanted guest, destroying their plans to celebrate the Persian new year on March 21.

Though the Iranian public expects the government to place cities with high concentrations of coronavirus cases under quarantine, President Hassan Rouhani has refrained from doing so. His administration has not said a word about the reasoning behind the decision, but US economic sanctions seem to be playing a central role in preventing the Iranian government from taking the most obvious measure to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Iran’s first confirmed case was reported just one day before the parliamentary election on Feb. 21. Soon, Iranian media outlets were full of reports and warnings, urging people to take precautions.

Iran’s holy city of Qom, the site of a Shiite holy shrine and Iran's grand ayatollahs, has been recognized as the epicenter of the virus in Iran with hundreds of confirmed cases. Officials have pointed to Chinese laborers and an Iranian merchant as originally bringing the virus to the city.