Khuzestan’s coronavirus situation worsens by the hour. According to officials, the new UK variant is found in Shadegan, Khorramshahr and Abadan. Amir al-Momenin hospital is at full capacity, forcing staff to keep patients in the ER until a bed is vacant. Head of the hospital admitted the quality of care will be decreased while there’s flood of patients. Head of Abadan Medical College warns people if the next peak is made of the UK variant, it would be much deadlier and will infect more people. His statement confirmed Pasteur Institute in Tehran is the only lab able to sequence the virus and the results take a week. Shoushtar officials requested the Governor to quarantine the city. The provincial officials have asked Tehran to declare emergency status for Khuzestan.
Semnan, Tehran, Fars, North Khorasan, Hormozgan, Hamedan, Kermanshah, Kohgiloyeh-Boyerahmad, Alborz, Qavin, Lorestan, East & West Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan continue to report increasing number of infections, hospitalizations and death. Officials at Shahroud, Semnan, reported suspected cases of the UK variant, waiting for the result from Tehran.
Health experts say this variant of coronavirus could spread several times faster than the original one. Dr. Minoo Mohraz, a member of National Task Force and an Infectious disease specialist, said the virus could take you down within 3 days.
Dr. Tabarsi reiterated Mohraz saying the new UK variant is deadlier than the original one. While Ministry of Health reported 17 confirmed cases in the country, Tabarsi said there are 24. Head of Infectious ward at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran said there has been two different mutated virus spreading in the second and third wave in Iran. He said, “The first and second wave were caused by the Wuhan virus, while the one in Sep-Oct wave (third wave) was due to Italian version causing families to get sick together. If the UK variant causes the next peak, it would be the worst wave in our history.” Tabarsi spoke about the vaccines getting approved in Iran. COVIran Barekat and Chinese Sinopharm based on inactivated virus, AstraZeneca and Indian Bharat are the four vaccines on the pipe for Iranians in addition to Russian Sputnik V.
Saeed Namaki praised himself and his work as usual, expressing his worry over mutated virus. Despite previous reports, Health Minister claimed there hasn’t been any South African variant in the country yet, but it may reach Iran at any time. “We must play chess with the virus.”
Sima Sadat Lari presented her daily manipulated data while many, including officials, believe they are undercounted by at least 3-4 folds. According to the Spokesperson for Ministry of Health, 67 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours while 8,042 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Daily tests reached 56,000, far away from the promised 100,000 months ago. As seen on graphs, active cases continue to rise, shaping the next wave of COVID-19 in Iran.
R0: 4.17
Total: 1,542,076 (+8,042)
Dead: 59,184 (+67)
Recovered: 1,317,612
Critical: 3,684 (-12)
Admitted: 165,280 (+1,184)
Tests: 10,218,318 (12.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Pouria Pakizeh
