Hospitals are filled with COVID-19 patients across Iran, most have begun leaving patients behind closed doors or leave them on the grounds untreated! Tehran and Mashhad, as the 2 most populous and biggest cities in the country are out-of-control! Islamic Republic Health Minister has finally decided to act, but for anything to happen, Khamenei must allow. Saeed Namaki in a letter to Khamenei asked for his permission to shut down the entire country for 2 weeks to “prevent a worse catastrophe.” He also requested help from “police and military” to enforce the strictest restrictions, something that had not happened in the past 4 waves of coronavirus in the country, but as nationwide protests continue, martial law is requested.
Medical staff report shortage of oxygen and even saline solution, let alone remdesivir and other medications. Deputy Health Minister Harirchi implicitly confirmed the reports by saying, “shortage of saline solution will be resolved soon!” Physicians and medical students in Kerman, Yasouj, Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Kermanshah and Hamedan demanding for the regime officials to do something, chanting: “Even if we die, we will get our rights.”
Dr. Masoud Mardani, member of National COVID-19 Task Force, said, “we did not anticipate such situation.” He described Tehran’s situation as the worst with no vacant bed and shortage of everything! The infectious-disease specialist rebuked the government for not implementing the most basic restrictions and for “dripping distribution of vaccines across the country.” Dr. Shokhouhi, head of infectious-disease ward at Loqman hospital in Tehran, admitted there is “absolutely no hope” for better situation in the next month! “Like previous waves, we only hope for the virus to run its course, while healthcare workers are exhausted.” He confirmed the shortage of oxygen and bed for patients saying the government is not doing anything to control COVID-19.
Mashhad officials say the situation is “catastrophic and black.” Fars authorities use “extremely critical” to describe the province’s COVID-19 situation. Head of Zanjan Medical University says Delta is ravaging through the province. Lorestan reports critical patients have tripled in numbers in recent days! Gilan admits 300 cases every day while outpatients are on the rise too. Reports from Kerman, Bushehr, Hormozgan and other provinces is along the same lines.
Meanwhile, Islamic Propaganda Organization insists on holding Muharram gatherings. The crowded assemblies which led to a breakout in Iran last year, are to be held amid Delta variant rampage.
Besides doing nothing to control the outbreak, the regime officials use their propaganda network to trumpet the importing of new vaccine shipments every day! Most Iranians are receiving Sinopharm shots which is ineffective against Delta and even officials have confessed there are many breakthrough cases. Today, 1.2million doses arrived but officials refused to mention the source! It is worth noting, Khamenei banned US and UK made vaccines in January.
According to official data, since February 9, total of 12,667,582 shots have been administered in Iran with only 2,741,979 (3.26% of population) have received both doses of Sinopharm, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca and Covaxin.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 366 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours and 32,511 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Deputy Health Minister Harirchi, in an interview on national TV, explicitly admitted the real numbers are multiple times the daily reports. He also predicted the daily death toll would reach 500 by the next week. As graphs illustrate, active and critical cases soar while daily PCR testing declines.
R0: 2.92
Total: 3,903,519 (+32,511)
Dead: 90,996 (+366)
Recovered: 3,385,195
Critical: 5,539 (+84)
Active Cases: 427,328 (+14,222)
Tests: 25,978,632 (30.8% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Social media – A hospital in Ganaveh, Bushehr
