Fars province officials report increasing number of cases. Abadan Medical University reports doubling number of infections in southwest of Khuzestan province. Province officials say the restrictions will be back in Khuzestan soon. Gilan Medical University authorities say 97 have been hospitalized in the past 24 hours across the province, indicating 15% increase from last week! Dr. Zali of Tehran Corona Combating Committee said cases, hospitalizations and positivity rate are on the rise compared to weeks before. According to his stats, 45,000 of 180,000 PCR tests performed in the past 75 days have been positive, a positivity rate of 25%!
Today, The Lancet published a peer-reviewed article confirming the efficacy (91.6%) and safety of Sputnik V on the interim of its third clinical trial. According to Islamic Republic officials, 2 million doses of the Russian coronavirus vaccine will arrive in Iran on February 4 to be used on “prioritized groups.” In the meantime, Mokhber, head of “Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order”, responsible for manufacturing COVIran Barekat, claimed the clinical trial is going very well and “it has destroyed the virus and will purge any other variant of it as well.” He added, the next phase will start in a few days. No data has been published about COVIran Barekt as of yet. Mokhber even mentioned “we might have an eye for exporting opportunities!”
Dr. Mostafavi, a member of Epidemiology Subcommittee at National Task Force, announced the start of new peak could be seen in South Khorasan and Semnan. He admitted Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan have been unsuccessful in curtailing coronavirus! He warned there is always a chance for new mutations which could make the novel coronavirus more virulent and deadlier. He asked everybody not to take the situation lightly.
Sima Sadat Lari, Ministry of Health Spokesperson, presented her daily manipulated and undercounted figures. According to her, 72 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours while 6,820 tested positive for coronavirus. That’s an increase from yesterday! The Spokesperson reported 11% of medical students have tested positive for the virus as well. 10% of univeristy students staying in dormitories have tested positive, which include 60-70 thousands of medical students. Testing remains in the same range while positivity keeps rising day after day. It rose from 12% yesterday to 12.46% today. Growth factors for deaths and cases have been above 1 since the epidemic began in the country almost a year ago.
R0: 4.17
Total: 1,431,416 (+6,820)
Dead: 58,110 (+72)
Recovered: 1,223,197
Critical: 3,865 (-31)
Admitted: 150,109 (-144)
Tests: 9,394,967 (11.3% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Vahid Khodadadi
