“Tehran is in critical condition,” warns Deputy Head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee. Dr. Tavakoli reported more than 1,200 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past 24 hours in capital, while 4,266 are admitted in total. He added, 25% of those are in ICUs. Dr. Tavakoli warned that 10-15% of cases are Delta variant while the rest are Omicron. He confirmed, even though Tehran is in “red” status, schools are open for in-person classes. He admitted Tehran has not reached the peak of the sixth wave yet, which may take another week or two. Hospitals across Iran are flooded with patients while Islamic Republic continues its ignorance in enforcing COVID-19 restrictions.
South Khorasan recorded a staggering 322% rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations from 2 weeks ago, while daily cases are up 2.5 times. Fars officials report a “fast increase” in infections, admissions and daily death tolls with 17 in the past 24 hours. Gilan is on the same boat with more than 640 patients in hospitals. Ardabil experiences the same situation with surging infections and admissions. Khuzestan is no exception in struggling with critical condition.
Meanwhile, Islamic Republic media continue to blame the people for the current situation instead of stating the facts. The regime kept its “anniversary parade” plans in place, has held crowded religious gatherings, allowed its propaganda programs such as “Fajr Film Festival, concerts,…” to go on and schools remained open. Furthermore, corruption in the Ministry of Health and IRGC, has led to shortage of medicine across Iran, adding to people’s sufferings.
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 21,593,011 (25.70% 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 COVIran Barekat. WHO recommends 3 doses of Sinopharm to be effective against Delta but studies have found the vaccine ineffective against Omicron.
The Islamic Republic “Supreme Leader” banned the relaibale US and UK made vaccines, leading to tsunami of deaths during Delta wave. Khamenei promoted his foundation’s shot, COVIran Barekat, which failed miserably. Multiple “homegrown” vaccines, including PastoCoVac, COVPars, Fakhra, Noora, Spikogen, never met the expectations and none of them has published their results or received recognition/approval from international health organizations. WHO even warned about fake AstraZeneca shots used in Iran. The Ministry of Health denied the report saying the international health body meant the “black market doses used.”
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 167 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 25,034 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 soar and critical patients reach a new record. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 320,000 have died of the disease since February 2020.
R0: 2.36
Total: 6,860,255 (+25,034)
Dead: 134,053 (+167)
Recovered: 6,351,542
Critical: 3,489 (+79)
Active Cases: 374,660 (+525)
Total Tests: 46,227,497
Cover: Mohammad Mohsenzadeh
