COVID-19 hospitalizations across Iran have multiplied in a matter of days. Islamic Republic Ministry of Health updated the flawed “coloring map” of the country indicating 42 cities as “red”, 142 upgraded to “orange”, 230 counties are designated “yellow” and only 34 are considered “blue!” Tehran and Mashhad, the capital and second major city in the country, are among the “red.” 643 are currently admitted in Mashhad hospitals. Semnan reports overwhelming number of cases and hospitalizations. Kermanshah is officially in the 6th wave and all its hospitals are on high alert. Fars officials express their concern over the speed of Omicron spread across the province and warn about the rise in children cases.
Dr Alavi, deputy head of Ahvaz Medical University, sounded the alarm for the inaction to fight the Omicron. He warned if the current path continues, “we won’t be able to fight the disease!” He showed his disappointment in reaching no actionable decision during “many meetings” and made it clear, the golden time to prevent the sixth wave has passed. He urged the government to close all schools and universities as late response would have no effect. Another official from Khuzestan reported 10 times surge in COVID-19 cases in the past 2 weeks. Dr. Ahmadi-Baloutaki said about 1,500 went to hospitals in Ahvaz alone!
Lorestan, Fars, Gilan and Alborz are among provinces reporting overflow of patients to their hospitals. An official in Alborz COVID-19 Combating Committee warned the daily death toll will suddenly increase. Dr. Jama’ati of Scientific Committee at National COVID-19 Task Force announced the committee’s decision to reimpose restrictions and lockdown across the country for 2 weeks! However, the decision must be made by the National Task Force which has no meeting until Saturday, causing more delay.
Meanwhile, President of Tehran Medical Council wrote a pleading letter to the Islamic Republic “Supreme Leader” asking him to order the government to allow “medical professionals participate the decision making process of medical affairs and problems!” Ali Khamenei, the “Supreme Leader” of the regime has already made a devastating decision which has cost thousands of lives during Delta wave and afterwards. He banned US and UK made vaccines in January 2021, just to promote his foundation’s failed COVIran Barekat! The decision also deepened the already big rift between the people of Iran and the regime, to the point that people do not trust the vaccines used in Iran.
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 17,698,006 (21.06% of Iran population) are vaccinated against COVID-19 with these vaccines. It is estimated that more than 53 million Iranians are at risk of contracting Omicron. 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.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 50 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 35,070 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Number of daily tests performed in the country continue to decline despite experts advice to have a more active case finding. Active cases begin to rise too. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 318,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 2.14
Total: 6,408,244 (+35,070)
Dead: 132,504 (+50)
Recovered: 6,110,615
Critical: 1,703 (+191)
Active Cases: 165,125 (+30,847)
Total Tests: 44,886,634
