On “Physician Day” in Iran, president of Iran Medical Council revealed more than 300 medical professionals have died of COVID-19 in the country in the past 24 hours. Dr. Zafarghandi emphasized that healthcare staff are not supported enough, to the point that more than 3,000 physicians have asked for their “good standing” certificate last year to emigrate! He confirmed many have not received their wages for months and cannot support their families. According to another official, 70% of physicians live below the poverty line! Zafarghandi reaffirmed that the vaccination started late, it is going slowly and the vaccines are not good enough. He demanded that healthcare professionals receive a booster shot as soon as possible. He validated our previous analysis of Civil Registration Organization statistics, saying many people do not get tested but die of COVID-19 and therefore, Ministry of Health does not include them in their daily reports! According to our last analysis, more than 245,000 have passed away from COVID-19 in Iran from February 2020 until August 21, 2021.
Ministry of Health’s head of “rapid response team” admitted Iran has not reached the fifth wave’s peak dominated by Delta variant, which has broken all records so far, but at the same time expressed his worry that the sixth wave might begin “immediately!” Dr. Souri named “rapid vaccination” as the only preventative measure effective against the novel coronavirus. Meanwhile, Tehran Governor asked counties’ officials to prepare warehouses and silos close to hospitals for additional patients. Bandpey warned Lambda variant is more contagious and vaccine-evasive, “we should be prepared and prevent it from spreading!” He did not mention how it should be stopped while Delta has conquered the country with the help of Islamic Republic’s inaction and deliberate mismanagement.
Dr. Zali, Chairman of Tehran Corona Combating Committee, said cases in capital have started to decrease slowly but Lambda is the new threat and must be prevented at all costs. He mentioned strict travel ban may be helpful, as it could have been in case of Delta which was not enforced.
Rasht Governor already announced its sixth wave. Fathollahi warned about new strains of the novel coronavirus and said the analysis show the sixth wave has begun in the Gilan capital. While the alarm for Lambda is sounded, Delta is still not done. East Azerbaijan is struggling with the flood of patients, so does Lorestan. Kermanshah continues to identify more COVID-19 cases. Ahvaz hospitals experience 10 times more hospitalizations compared to few weeks ago. Ardabil remains critical, while Hormozgan sets a new daily death toll with 25. Gilan officials announced “red” status of the province and suspension of “first dose” administration of vaccines until “second doses in Rasht are completed!”
Chaotic and slow vaccination has been source of anger for Iranians, especially since Khamenei banned importation of US and UK made vaccines, which most people see the reason behind the current massacre. The regime officials have begun a campaign to exonerate the “Supreme Leader” but ordinary citizens and social media postings tell a different story.
In that regard, yesterday, Naser Riahi, President of Drug Importers Union of Iran, claimed 20million Pfizer doses and 30million Janssen will be imported because the “new administration” has “special interest” in providing people with reliable vaccines. However, today, FDA Spokesman called out Riahi’s bluff and said Iran’s COVAX allotment is 16.8million doses which 2.2m have already been delivered: “If somebody tells you 20m doses of a specific vaccine from COVAX is deliverable, you’re being fooled!”
According to the Ministry of Health, since February 9, total of 23,137,699 shots have been administered in Iran while only 6,150,817 (7.32% of population) are fully vaccinated with majority being jabbed with ineffective Sinopharm and COVIran Barekat. The Ministry also claimed 610 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours and 38,657 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Graphs vividly show the five waves of the virus.
R0: 3.04
Total: 4,715,771 (+38,657)
Dead: 102,648 (+610)
Recovered: 3,961,024
Critical: 7,695 (+33)
Active Cases: 652,099 (+9,495)
Total Tests: 27,974,949
Cover: Adel Bakhoda
