The novel coronavirus crisis in Iran continues, while Islamic Republic officials keep contradicting each other, and hiding the truth! Today, Health Minister, Saeed Namaki, broke all shameless barriers and said he knows what has caused the second wave to happen in the summer against his prediction but he’ll tell the reason(s) later! Most probably, he is worried about losing his job if he talks too much but he’s responsible for the lives of millions of Iranians, his morale should oblige him to say what he knows! Although, there’s no surprise, he’s been praising Khamenei throughout the 6 months of pandemic!
On the other hand, Sima Sadat Lari announced 2,279 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 139 deaths in the past 24 hours. She also mentioned the same 26 provinces as before to be in red or alarming status! However, she said the cases has decreased 20-25% across the country while the graphs based on their discredited and widely undercounted data show the number of active cases have been increasing constantly! Maybe, she has been referring to the real stats which she could be one of the handful knowing!
Sadat Lari also emphasized on people to stay at home during Moharram for mourning and watch special programs through TV! However, as she knows, the religious propaganda machine have been working for many weeks encouraging people to participate in Moharram gatherings, starting from tomorrow, to be healed from all ailments, including COVID-19. They even have followed their leader, Khamenei, and calling the novel coronavirus a tool used by “enemies” to separate them from Shia “Imams”! Ministry of Health Spokesperson announced all indoor gatherings for Moharram are banned and said Islamic Propaganda Organization is responsible for implementing all “health protocols.” She said the National Task Force “security committee” would be supervising people following those said protocols!
The President of Islamic Republic has gone one step further, considered all permitted gatherings as a success, including Moharram that hasn’t happened yet, and the premature reopenings which many believe were the cause of the second surge in the country, and said “We should use our successful experiences in reopening, Ramadan, Konkour, and Moharram mournings, and not let coronavirus keep our schools closed!” Apparently, he wants to devise new “health protocols”, their usual scapegoat, for students to go back to school, just to show everything is OK! It doesn’t matter how many people contract the virus or die in the process!
The number of deaths and daily cases decreased today, compared to yesterday, Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) remains at 1.43 which indicates the danger of the epidemic in Iran, but the officials don’t even bother mentioning or considering it! The number of daily tests done decreased, even if the total number of tests done is horrendous considering the population, which could be in line with their Moharram manipulations!
R0: 1.43
Total: 352,558 (+2,279)
Dead: 20,264 (+139)
Healed: 304,236
Critical: 3,869 (+1)
Admitted: 28,058 (+432)
Tests: 2,963,741
