Deputy Chairman of Tehran Corona Combating Committee expressed his concern over the full blown Omicron spread in Iran and said “its effects will be seen from next week.” Dr. Tavakoli, like other health experts, emphasized on receiving 3rd dose of COVID-19 vaccines. However, the majority of shots used in Iran are the Chinese Sinopharm or Khamenei’s COVIran Barekat. The former has been proven ineffective against Delta, let alone Omicron, and the latter has not published any of its data yet. WHO recommended 3 doses of Sinopharm for “full vaccination” against previous variants. According to official data, since February 9, only 4,361,551 (5.19% of Iran population) have received 3 jabs of these vaccines.
Health experts have explicitly asked the government to enforce lockdowns and close schools. Even some has said the variant is capable of “blowing up” in days! But, the Islamic Republic Interior Minister just “asked organizations to be prepared to face Omicron,” Red Crescent Society announced it is “ready to erect field hospitals,” tomorrow night, there will be the first concert in months held in Vahdat Arena in Tehran, and Deputy Health Minister announced all final exams must be held in-person or the results are invalid!
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 43 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 2,413 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 314,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 1.69
Total: 6,175,782 (+2,413)
Dead: 131,167 (+43)
Recovered: 6,012,695
Critical: 2,835 (-14)
Active Cases: 31,920 (-836)
Total Tests: 40,981,684
Cover: Fatemeh Amuzad
