Today, coronavirus and COVID-19 shattered records in Iran. According to the undercounted figures by the Islamic Republic Ministry of Health, 17,430 tested positive for the novel coronavirus while 174 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. That’s the highest number of daily cases since epidemic began in February 2020. COVID-19 hospitalizations have brought officials to their knees, asking people not to go to hospitals for non-emergency situations. Dr. Tabarsi, head of Infectious Ward at Masih Daneshveri Hospital in Tehran, said this wave was preventable but officials refused to ban travels. He warned this wave will go on for 2 months, hospitals will be filled and deaths will soar! Tabarsi added, even though lockdown may hurt the economy, but health is the most important factor for people and Tehran should be closed down!
Chairman of Tehran Corona Combating Committee reiterated the current “bitter scenario” shouldn’t have happened! Dr. Zali stated the situation with the new UK variant in Khuzestan is repeating itself in Tehran. He criticized the government for not listening to health experts and did not enforce travel ban during Nowruz holidays. He reported 4,800 hospitalizations in Tehran province, with 1,120 (almost 25%) admitted at ICUs. He announced 1,100 admissions in the past 24hours which is a record in the past 14 months. Zali has requested 7-10 days lockdown of the capital, waiting for a decision by National Task Force. In the past instances, his requests have been denied!
Other provinces report worsening situations by the hour. Even provinces with low infection rates have started to experience a sudden “explosion” of coronavirus cases. Ardabil warned about its situation. Head of Yasouj Medical University said Kohgiloyeh-Boyerahmad is in its worst COVID-19 circumstance. Gilan cautioned about the increasing number of cases. Bijar in Kurdistan province reported 77.5% positivity rate in its tests! Qazvin official warns about overloaded hospitals by next week! Ahvaz health authorities say the number of patients is more than their capacity. Head of Shiraz Medical University reported more than 2,000 positive cases in 24hrs in Fars, warning the “explosive” spread of coronavirus. Ilam, North Khorasan, Alborz, Semnan, Qom, … all report massive spikes in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
In the meantime, Khuzestan officials warn about the Brazilian variant for the second time. Deputy Head of Ahvaz Medical University in Health Affairs warned about Brazilian ships docked in the provincial waters. President of the University confirmed the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise but he denied the notion that the country wide wave has originated from Khuzestan! Abolnejadian cited travels and gatherings as the reason for the current situation.
With the new variants circulating in the country like wildfire, vaccination seems to be one of the most important steps to put it out, but unfortunately, Islamic Republic remains behind all its projections and other countries. According to Razi Institute, one of the domestic vaccines, COVPars, is to be ready by mid-August! That is 4 months of more cases and deaths. The earliest projection is for COVIran Barekat to be mass produced by end of June. Health experts believe by then the UK and possibly Brazilian variants would take over the country and the imaginary vaccines may lose their efficacy against new emerging variants.
Daily PCR testing remains at the same range while active and critical cases continue to rise, as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.80
Total: 1,963,394 (+17,430)
Dead: 63,506 (+174)
Recovered: 1,667,079
Critical: 4,138 (+43)
Active Cases: 232,809 (+9,155)
Tests: 13,256,820 (15.8% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mohammadreza Ardestani
