As WHO warns all countries about the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus and more than 30 countries have already confirmed cases, President of Iran Medical Council reiterates that “the new variant will definitely arrive in Iran” sooner or later. Dr. Raeiszadeh admitted the government is weak in contact tracing and efficient quarantine of COVID-19 cases, especially when a new variant is discovered in Iran. Since February 2020, the official announcement of COVID-19 in Iran, the Islamic Republic has refused to provide any sequencing detail to the public.
The low vaccination rate continues to be a hurdle in the COVID-19 crisis management. Iranians have been discouraged by the vaccines used in Iran, since Sinopharm, used in more than 80%, is proven ineffective against Delta and WHO requires 3 doses of it for “full vaccination” status. According to official data, since February 9, only 1,178,457 (1.40% of population) have received 3 doses of these vaccines. It is worth mentioning, Khamenei banned US and UK made vaccines, promoted COVIran Barekat, which failed miserably and caused a massacre during the fifth wave of COVID-19 dominated by the Delta variant.
Despite all warnings and health experts’ recommendations, Islamic Republic continues to use the flawed “coloring map”, presenting the illusion of “normal” situation to the people. They go back to their “normal activities” and as soon as a surge happens, officials begin to blame people. A vicious cycle that has been ongoing in the past 22+ months. The regime has reopened schools, universities, borders and in addition, it has failed to control the air pollution in metropolitan areas, especially Tehran.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 78 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 3,603 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 312,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 1.86
Total: 6,129,199 (+3,603)
Dead: 130,066 (+78)
Recovered: 5,908,901
Critical: 3,296 (-18)
Active Cases: 90,232 (-5,195)
Total Tests: 39,093,355
Cover: Fatemeh Rahimavian
