As Delta continues to ravage through Iran in the fifth wave of COVID-19, more and more health experts warn about the sixth wave and a more contagious coronavirus variant, Lambda! Dr. Tavakoli, member of Tehran Corona Combating Committee, expressed his concern over full hospitals. He admitted there is no sign of decline in infections and deaths have risen and will continue to increase! He explained since Lambda has been found in Europe and there’s no travel ban in place, it will reach Iran and create the sixth wave.
Head of infectious-disease ward at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran emphasized no matter how many doses of vaccines are administered or how much medication is prescribed but as long as strict health policies are not in place in Iran, COVID-19 will not be controlled. Dr. Tabarsi said Tehran might be at the peak of Delta wave but “time will tell.” He predicted the sixth wave with Lambda will happen if this path continues. These are all referring to the Islamic Republic’s policy about religious gatherings, particularly recent Muharram gatherings where no protocol was followed. Dr. Davoudian from Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province puts it this way: “Healthcare workers are fed up with gatherings and no consequence for the hosts!”
However, nothing could stop the theocratic regime from holding its propaganda ceremonies. Apparently, the new Islamic Republic Foreign Minister in his first international trip to Iraq, in talks with Iraqi PM asked for his permission for “Arbaeen march”. In the crowded march, people walk from Iran to Karbala to commemorate the 40th day of “Imam Hossein” death! National COVID-19 Task Force has already issued the permission from this side! Iraq requires all visitors to be fully vaccinated, which means Arbaeen pilgrims will receive their shots out of turn!
At the same time, Islamic Republic Ministry of Health reported 10.4% increase in COVID-19 deaths compared to the week before. The official statistics have been under serious scrutiny since day one, and recently, even Deputy Health Minister Harirchi admitted the real numbers are “definitely much higher,” an epidemiology professor said they must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data shows more than 245,000 COVID-19 deaths from February 2020 to August 21, 2021. According to the same data, since August 22 to August 29, weekly death records have been broken in Iran, with 19,370 deaths. A simple comparison with years prior to the COVID-19 epidemic shows that is about 12,000 more than those years. In the meantime, regime’s Ministry of Health had announced 4,477 COVID-19 deaths during that week. It is another proof that Islamic Republic continues to hide the truth from the world about the magnitude of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iran.
Kermanshah announced 6 times more deaths during last week in comparison with 2 months ago and broke its hospitalization records with 1,477. Lorestan reported more than 1,300 COVID patients hospitalized. Delta set a new record in daily death toll in Isfahan with 60. Ardabil continues to be critical.
Local reports indicate, in addition to medications, oxygen and vaccines being scarce, there is no PCR testing available either. A resident of Ardabil reports: “They say they want to export vaccine to US, but they can’t do a simple test…Whatever they say is a lie. There is no protocol, no test, no vaccine…”
Despite shortage of vaccines, and more vaccination centers closing every day, “artists” are prioritized over others. Many firefighters and healthcare staff in private sector have not been fully vaccinated yet. On the other hand, while a study published by Nature has shown that one dose of any vaccine is useless against Delta variant, Islamic Republic officials insist on the first dose and calling it “vaccinated!” With the ongoing massacre in Iran, due to regime’s incompetence or deliberate mismanagement in addition to Khamenei banning of US and UK made vaccines, Iranians must be receiving both doses back to back with as shorter gap as possible. But the officials continue their misinformation campaign that long gap between the two doses does not matter!
According to Ministry of Health, since February 9, total of 26,176,126 shots have been administered in Iran while only 7,914,881 (9.42% of population) have received both doses of ineffective vaccines, with the majority jabbed with Chinese Sinopharm and “domestic” COVIran Barekat.
The Spokesperson for the Ministry also announced her manipulated data. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 581 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours and 31,516 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The graphs illustrate the multiple waves Iran has been through in the more than 18-month crisis, more than any other country in the world.
R0: 2.98
Total: 4,926,964 (+31,516)
Dead: 106,482 (+581)
Recovered: 4,146,742
Critical: 7,877 (+32)
Active Cases: 673,740 (+1,291)
Total Tests: 28,668,156
Cover: Mohammadhassan Salavati
