The first day of Moharram (Muharram) gatherings was full of surprises for government officials, or was it?! They have known all along that allowing Moharram mourning ceremonies midst of a pandemic is a mass suicide attempt, but had no choice! They had to follow their leader, Khamenei, and other backward thinking religious leaders in a theocratic regime. There’s a well-known quote from Khomeini: “It’s Moharram and Safar that have kept Islam alive.” This quote alone, says a lot about the Islamic Republic ideology and the importance of this month. Many local reports indicate the “health protocols” were not followed by many places, including but not limited to, holding gatherings indoors, social distancing and wearing masks.
While Islamic Republic officials know that everybody would blame any future surge in number of cases and deaths on Moharram, they would try to cover up the soaring numbers like they had tried in the beginning of the outbreak and again when the second wave started. Rouhani and Ministry of Health, including Saeed Namaki, had denied a second wave for weeks before succumbing to overwhelming number of cases and reports!
Today, Rouhani said, “When we take a sigh of relief and smile when we see some provinces are putting behind the peak, it means many big things have happened. I hope we stand together till the last day of this disease and healthcare staff continue with the same spirit.” That’s when 164 of healthcare workers have died, many have resigned, many have contracted the disease, many have gone on a strike at one point or the other, all because Rouhani and Islamic Republic in general haven’t taken care of the first line defenders against the deadly virus. There have been shortages of the very basic protective gears, unpaid wages and benefits for months, but they’re still “expected to stand” with Islamic Republic.
On the other hand, Saeed Namaki also had a speech claiming “we’re in controlling stage of the second wave.” The same way they were “controlling” the first wave? By manipulating the numbers? The second wave almost started at the beginning of May, which is visible on the graphs. It’s been more than 3 months that the majority of the country is struggling with the second wave, and now it’s being “controlled”? According to Rouhani, Namaki, and other Ministry officials, the novel coronavirus have become more potent and spread faster in the second wave, but less restrictions are in place compared to what were implemented in Feb-March, the first wave.
Furthermore, the 1 billion Euro allowed by Khamenei to be used in combating the crisis in the country has been missing, just like trillions other! According to Ministry of Health, they have only received 30% of the money allocated for healthcare system! Bear in mind, Islamic Republic have been asking for billions of loans from IMF and other international organizations, but all were rejected, since they figured COVID-19 crisis has become the new ruse for the regime to finance anything but using it for the people!
Sima Sadat Lari, following the past few weeks’ pattern, announced 2,028 new COVID-19 cases and 126 deaths in the past 24 hours. The same 26 provinces remain in critical condition but “we’re controlling the second wave.” The number of critical patients had a big jump since yesterday, and active cases increase. Although, there is no truth in regime’s data, they’re still the best indicator in the manipulations!
R0: 1.43
Total: 356,792 (+2,028)
Dead: 20,502 (+126)
Healed: 307,702
Critical: 3,850 (+56)
Admitted: 28,588 (+66)
Tests: 3,011,310
