Iran Inmates at Evin prison oppose plans to move to a detention facility believed to contain people suspected of being infected with nCov.

Sherry Ashoori, a British-Iranian national, said her husband Anoosheh Ashoori, 65, has been detained in Evin prison for 12 years. He and other prisoners in ward 12 are being ordered to move to district 4, where three prisoners are suspected of being infected with nCoV. Despite their refusal, they knew they would still have to abide by this plan.

The Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the incident and that the British ambassador in Tehran Robert Macaire had been informed but there was no official confirmation of the allegations of the prisoners.

Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been imprisoned in Evin prison for five years, also expressed concern about the plan to move cells.

"We hope this information is false," he said. "This shows the precarious situation that Nazanin and all the other prisoners are facing, the situation is very scary when the whole country lacks medicine, lacks management capacity and almost lacks transparency."

Sherry Ashoori said inmates began to panic after the prison bus took a prisoner to Taleqani Hospital in Tehran. They said that a prison supervisor who was chained to the prisoner reacted that he was not informed of the suspect that he was infected with nCoV.

MPs supporting Iran's reform are calling for a temporary release of political prisoners during the outbreak. Gholam Hossein Ismaili, spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, asked prison officials to be vigilant about the signs of the epidemic at risk of infection in prison. He also said it is activating a series of measures to prevent Covid-19, including reducing the number of prisoners and releasing early prisoners for some.

Iran currently records 16 deaths in 95 nCoV infections, becoming the country with the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in the world. Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and Mahmoud Sadeghi, a prominent politician of this country, yesterday announced they were positive for nCoV.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki believes there is no need to blockade Qom city, Iran's Covid-19 epidemic, because people "are conscious enough to avoid going from virus-infected cities to other places".