Even though Islamic Republic officials claimed the borders are closed to Indian flights, ships and land crossings, Hormozgan and Bushehr report suspected cases of Indian coronavirus variant in Indian and Pakistani nationals, waiting for confirmation from Pasteur Institute to sequence their samples. In the meantime, after National Task Force had told reporters the border with Pakistan was closed last Saturday, Customs officials said there was no directive until today, and 192 Pakistani have crossed the border into Iran in the past few days.
Director General of Tehran Cemetery (Behesht-e-Zahra) stated in the past 14 months, 60% of all reported COVID-19 deaths in Iran have been from the city of Tehran. Khuzestan officials warn about Indian variant in the province. Abadan Medical College sounded the alarm that if the variant spreads in the country, hospitals could not handle the crisis. Mashhad reports 60% of children going to hospital test positive for the novel coronavirus. Fars continues to experience increasing number of cases and hospitalizations. North Khorasan Medical University report a “black day” with 13 COVID-19 deaths and rise in hospitalizations.
Despite provincial reports, Deputy Health Minister in Treatment Affairs claims the uptrend in coronavirus cases has reached a plateau but more ICU beds are required across the country. As Qadr nights and Eid Fitr approach, the Islamic Republic officials have intensified their manipulation of stats as it was proved before Muharram gatherings. Tonight, in a religious gathering to celebrate the second Shia Imam birthday, crowds were socializing without following any protocol!
Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccination in Iran remains a faraway dream! Following yesterday’s report about long line and disorganization in vaccination of healthcare staff, today, medical sciences students had the same fate. Long line with no social distancing and waiting for hours to receive a shot. The voice says: “President of Shiraz Medical University has asked us to come here, promising in 3 days every student will receive a shot. This is the 3rd day, nobody from the university is here to answer our questions. Many have come from other cities and many had left due to long wait.”
On the other hand, National Task Force Spokesman explained why Chinese citizens received vaccines in Nikan Hospital in Tehran. Dr. Raisi claimed those shots were sent by Chinese government for their citizens residing in Iran and are not included in “our system.” However, his explanation did not impress majority of Iranians on social media. Iran remains in the bottom of the vaccination list of countries.
Islamic Republic vaccination program remains questionable. There is no detailed priorities or source of vaccines. Officials continue to push back the timeline for mass immunization. Ministry of Health reported, out of 2,095,800 imported vaccines, only 938,754 doses have been administered while 0.23% of the population, 193,840, have been fully vaccinated.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated figures which even Iran Medical Board officials dismiss, admitting the real numbers are at least 3 times higher. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 434 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran while 21,713 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Active cases continue to rise, as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.82
Total: 2,459,906 (+21,713)
Dead: 70,966 (+434)
Recovered: 1,923,081
Critical: 5,287 (+51)
Active Cases: 465,859 (+5,388)
Tests: 15,562,560 (18.4% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
