Islamic Republic is struggling at every level and coronavirus is adding to the drama every single day. With Moharram approaching rapidly, the contradictions among officials on whether people should attend the ever busy gatherings in poor ventilated venues increase, and some like Deputy Head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee says it directly, “People should avoid any gathering,” when asked about Moharram. Dr. Zali, head of that committee, speaks a bit more directly against higher ranking officials. He said blaming everything on people has been a wrong approach and has cost the government to lose people’s trust. He went even further against what Rouhani had said about reopenings had nothing to do with the virus resurgence, “People have no choice but go to work to make ends meet, however, premature reopenings could induce the idea that everything was normal.” We had reported at the time, that nothing was normal!
At the same time, Saeed Namaki, the ever slave to Khamenei, has released an open letter to the people of Iran, yet claiming another “victory” for Islamic Republic’s history with the way it had “combated the virus”, even though it had cost some of “his colleagues” their lives. He asked the orators, heyats (Moharram gathering organizers), mullahs and all “Shia mourners” in the gatherings to follow the “health protocols” so no one gets infected. He knows very well, it’s not possible to control hundreds of thousands of people in gatherings across the country. An example of how the so-called “protocols” are being followed and implemented in day-to-day activities in Tehran, is where people have gone to test for coronavirus.
Religious leaders don’t stop tempting people to participate in “Imam Hossein” mourning ceremonies. Alamol Holda, Khamenei’s representative in Mashhad, the second biggest city in Iran and where “Imam Reza” shrine is located, told people “don’t let the devil tempt you not to attend Moharram gatherings.”
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs indicate the worsening situation of coronavirus in Iran, despite what officials would like to claim. The Ministry of Health Spokesperson’s daily show continued today by announcing 2,501 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 169 deaths in the past 24 hours. 25 of 31 provinces remain in critical status and fatality rate has increased another point, to 6.2% based on fake and undercounted regime’s stats. Number of active cases are also on the rise, again, contrary to what Sima Sadat Lari had claimed yesterday.
R0: 1.43
Total: 338,825 (+2,501)
Dead: 19,331 (+169)
Healed: 293,811
Critical: 3,956 (-15)
Admitted: 25,683 (+579)
Tests: 2,812,488
