As Omicron continues its round in Iran, COVID-19 hospitalizations rise in Fars, Kohgiloye-Boyerahmad and Mashhad. Meanwhile, health experts warn about “Delmicron”, concurrent infection with Delta and Omicron variants. According to Dr. Jama’ati, Delmicron is a supposition which has not been proven yet, even though a few countries have confirmed they have cases with Delmicron, which have the high transmissibility of Omicron and severity of Delta. Member of the Scientific Committee of National COVID-19 Task Force suggested 5-11 year olds be vaccinated with PastoCoVac and Sinopharm. The two shots which have not been approved for this age range and PastoCoVac has not even published its clinical trial data, yet! He added that Pfizer’s PAXLOVID is suggested to the FDA to be added to the list of country’s drugs.
Dr. Alavi from Ahvaz Medical University emphasized Omicron is spreading in Khuzestan despite “it has not been officially announced.” He estimated the number of Omicron cases in Iran is 100 times of reported, which makes it 3,400! Alavi expressed his disappointment in slow vaccination rate in Khuzestan and the country as a whole. On the other hand, President of Khuzestan Medical Community said “the organizations do not follow the smart quarantine protocols which requires 3-dose vaccination” for people to use their services. Another point of failure for the Islamic Republic’s plan to control the virus and “going back to normal!”
While medical professionals insist on 3-dose vaccination, official data indicate that since February 9, only 6,756,119 (8.04% 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.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 40 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 2,128 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: 6,188,857 (+2,128)
Dead: 131,474 (+40)
Recovered: 6,030,632
Critical: 2,751 (-15)
Active Cases: 26,751 (-233)
Total Tests: 41,693,121
Cover: Khadijeh Naderi
