Iran E-Commerce Union has issued a statement calling on the public and officials to tap the potentials of online businesses amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus throughout the country, in an effort to minimize outdoor exposure to the disease.
Released on Saturday on the union’s website, Eanjoman.ir, the statement noted that controlling the rapid spread of the COVID-19 disease is not possible until a national understanding and empathy take shape.
“Since mid-February when the coronavirus started spreading in the country, health care and social hygiene demands have become a priority for all institutions. The country’s economic units should join and boost the domestic sector against the negative effects of the pandemic and this is not possible without an integrated move,” the statement said.
Sooner or later, the country will leave behind these unfortunate days, but the economic damage caused by the epidemic will definitely affect the fledgling startups, which will need time to recover, the union announced.
But the potentials of digital economy in the country, which have grown significantly, can help young entrepreneurs and tech teams withstand the economically-destructive wave.
With the extension of greater support, the digital economy’s infrastructure can be employed to circumvent the epidemic’s repercussions.
When President Hassan Rouhani took office during his first tenure in 2013, giving support to tech-based firms, startups and knowledge-based companies became one of the government’s priorities.
Experts called for strengthening the tech ecosystem and promoting the digital economy to curb the country’s reliance on oil-based revenues.
In the past six years, the number of tech units active in different fields and their income have risen considerably.
According to the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology, over 4,700 knowledge-based companies and almost an equal number of startups are active in the country.
In addition, knowledge-based companies have earned 1 quadrillion rials ($6.49 billion) from the export of technological products in the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 2019).
The income has been on an upward trajectory over the past several years, increasing from 600 trillion rials ($3.8 billion) in the year ending March 2018 to 900 trillion rials ($5.8 billion) last year.
Tech officials say these figures show that the solution to economic hardships facing Iran today can be found inside and not outside the country. Considering the current critical situation due to the wide spread of coronavirus, officials hope that the support policy will be helpful.
With 170 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in Tehran, the capital has taken the place of Qom as the epicenter of the rapid outbreak in Iran.
While the central city of Qom was the country's coronavirus focal point in the first days of the epidemic, now Tehran, the most populated Iranian city tops the list of contaminated provinces, and is followed by Qom, Gilan, Isfahan, Alborz, Mazandaran and Markazi, health officials announced on Saturday.
Overall, Iran’s confirmed coronavirus cases soared to 5,823 as of March 7, including 145 who have died from the infectious disease.
In a broader perspective, the virus has infected 106,211 people and killed 3,600 around the world until Saturday. Of the total figure, 60,213 people have recovered from the acute respiratory disease.
Online Education
In an effort to prevent or contain COVID19, state authorities have ordered schools of all grades and universities in the affected provinces closed until the upcoming Norouz (Iranian New Year) holidays (March 19- April 3).
However, to fill the gap in the educational schedule, Information and Communication Technologies Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi called on the academia to utilize the internet infrastructure to hold classes.
“Video-on-demand websites can play a major role in facilitating online education,” he said.
Jahromi added that negotiations are underway to offer cheap or free of charge data connection to VODs hosted in the local domain for students.
ICT Ministry had been in charge of expanding the country’s communication infrastructure and developing the National Information Network—a local network designed to help regulate online information dissemination.
Besides the academic refit, desk jobs have squeezed their working hours, resorting to teleworking using the internet.
Officials believe that this is an opportunity to seize NIN’s potentials and promote the culture of online education and work in the country.
