Islamic Republic Health Minister called coronavirus an obstinate enemy which refuses to slow down and brings on new challenges every time! Saeed Namaki said, “We should prepare for harder days. With new arrangement of forces, we would attack the virus and pass those hard days.” He added, “As God is my witness, Iran has been reporting the clearest statistics in the world.” He said media cast doubt on “any advancement” in Iran just because “they don’t want us to be independent.”
Saeed Namaki, however, didn’t address any of contradictions and controversies surrounding coronavirus vaccine made in Iran or the many discrepancies in the daily data provided by the Ministry of Health Spokesperson! Hiding of the virus in early 2020 was a major concern for many health experts and officials. Then came local reports and evidence from hospitals that weren’t in line with what the Ministry was reporting. Provinces were banned from reporting individual stats since March! After that, was the officials, as high as Deputy Health Minister, admitting the reported numbers are undercounted, and the real numbers could be as high as 2.2 times. The Chairman of Iran Medical Council said it was 3 times. A member of National Task Force called the daily numbers 1/20 of the reality! The discrepancies between provincial officials and the Ministry have been reported many times by IranTrue.
Shanehsaz, head of Islamic Republic FDA, claims all medications used in treating COVID-19 in Iran hospitals are made in the country while 90% of them were being imported at the beginning of the epidemic. However, pharmacists had declared that claim as false and criticized shortage of medicine. While FDA officials have said the “priorities” for whom to receive coronavirus vaccine have not been determined yet, Saeed Namaki said, they are and will announced in the “next press conferences.” He didn’t mention why he wouldn’t give the details today! Once again, he claimed COVID-19 vaccine “will be imported” from “reliable sources,” without giving any more details.
In the meantime, Sima Sadat Lari announced the daily numbers. According to her, the data show another increase in the number of cases and deaths for the second day in a row. 149 died of COVID-19 while 6,272 tested positive for coronavirus. Testing remains in the same range. She reported 0 “red” counties, 108 “orange” and 340 “yellow.” However, Mazadaran officials reported 4 “red” cities in the province north of Iran. Zanjan, Kermanshah and Yasouj reported increased number of deaths and cases for the third day in a row.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs continue to depict the ongoing 10+ months of crisis in Iran.
R0: 4.32
Total: 1,218,753 (+6,272)
Dead: 55,095 (+149)
Recovered: 978,714
Critical: 5,087 (-41)
Admitted: 184,944 (-3,183)
Tests: 7,566,946 (9.1% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Maryam Kamyab
