Member of COVID-19 Scientific Committee predicted the sixth wave will reach its peak in 1-2 weeks and will remain there for 2-3 weeks. Dr. Hagh-Azali admitted the number of cases in Iran has increased and daily death toll has multiplied from 20 to more than 200! He urged the government to reconsider reopening schools and postpone it until at least April. He asked everybody with Omicron must stay in quarantine for at least 10 days. On the other hand, Dr. Jama’ati said 5 days is enough, making the recommendations by officials more confusing for the people. He reiterated the increase in daily death toll due to Omicron.
Khuzestan officials confirmed Pediatric ICU beds are scarce in the province and Omicron cases are soaring every day. They also confirmed the rise in cases and hospitalizations across the province. Fars experiencing the same struggle. While Islamic Republic Health Minister brags about “controlling the COVID-19 in Iran,” officials admit only “risky patients” are being tested to downplay the crisis in the country. Islamic Republic has been using the same trick since the official arrival of the pandemic in February 2020.
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 22,214,679 (26.44% 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 242 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 16,967 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: 6,942,452 (+16,967)
Dead: 135,040 (+242)
Recovered: 6,489,920
Critical: 4,053 (+42)
Active Cases: 317,492 (-14,566)
Total Tests: 46,620,277
Cover: Peyman Hamidipoor
