Acting Director of PR Office at the Ministry of Health announced 6 new cases of Omicron have been confirmed in Iran. Hashemi reported 5 were in Hormozgan and 1 in Babol, Mazandaran. With today’s cases, the total number of confirmed cases in the country reaches 14, from all 4 corners of the nation. Health experts continue to warn about the next wave of COVID-19 and shortage of hospital beds while insisting that 3rd dose of vaccines remains the best defense against the new variant.
Islamic Republic Health Minister claimed there is a 1-2 “golden week” opportunity to increase the 3rd dose coverage across the country. Eynollahi “hoped” that the current “good” condition will remain intact! However, he failed to mention if the schools will be closed, if any of the restrictions will be back or what other measures are to be taken to control Omicron.
On the other hand, Dr. Ghane’ei, a member of COVID-19 Vaccination Program emphasized that COVID-19 is “here to stay” and Iran will need more vaccines in the future. He suggested the government must support “homegrown manufacturers of vaccines” to have enough supply ready. He also admitted that currently only 3-5 million domestic vaccine is produced per month, much lower than what Raisi’s Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber, as former CEO of “Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order”, had promised.
According to official data, since February 9, only 5,478,443 (6.52% of Iran population) have received 3 doses of these vaccines. The majority of shots used in Iran are the ineffective Sinopharm and failed COVIran Barekat. WHO recommends 3 doses of Sinopharm to be effective against Delta but studies have found the vaccine ineffective against Omicron. It is worth mentioning, Khamenei banned US and UK made vaccines in January to promote his own foundation’s COVIran Barekat.
Islamic Republic officials shut down the borders, but only for 15 days and only to foreigners! That policy has brought up continuous objection from tourism industry, “as if only foreigners carry the virus,” tour operators protested.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 42 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 1,121 tested positive for the novel coronavirus, no sequencing details were shared with the public. 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: 6,182,905 (+1,121)
Dead: 131,348 (+42)
Recovered: 6,024,211
Critical: 2,796 (-11)
Active Cases: 27,346 (-982)
Total Tests: 41,388,312
Cover: Mahdi Marizad
