Deputy Health Minister Harirchi says if the situation in Khuzestan gets worse, its quarantine request will definitely be addressed in the National Task Force meeting! He admits Khuzestan and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari are experiencing a COVID-19 peak, Khuzestan with UK variant of coronavirus but claims the rest of Iran is going through a decline in cases or are in a stable condition! However, reports from Khuzestan paint a gruesome picture which apparently doesn’t meet Harirchi’s standards. Hospitals are at full capacity and shortage of healthcare staff is rampant across the province! The officials in Ahvaz continue to cut powers to gyms, downtown area and markets to prevent gatherings, but that doesn’t stop people from doing business because they can’t afford to stay home! Abadan Medical College records increasing number of hospitalizations across SW of Khuzestan.
The devastating economic situation has forced people to stay in lines for their basic needs such as chicken, cooking oil, rice,… because they can’t afford to buy them in free markets! There is no protocol followed in those crowded lines across the country.
UK variant of coronavirus is spreading like wildfire, reaching other provinces. Bushehr reports 5 cases, who contracted the virus from 1 traveler coming from Khuzestan! Kohgiloyeh-Boyerahmad confirmed its first case of the British version, a 34-year-old male who died of COVID-19 in the hospital. His case was announced after his death! Yasouj Medical University official added the situation in the province is fragile and another breakout could happen at any moment.
FDA announced arrival of 250,000 doses of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine donated by Chinese government. In the meantime, 100,000 Sputnik V doses are administered to next groups across Iran! Despite Senior Advisor to Health Minister’s denial, Khuzestan officials confirmed veterans and parents of 2+ martyrs are priorities to receive the Sputnik vaccine! They announced 696 doses were received by this category! National Task Force Spokesman claims the world will be amazed on how fast the vaccination would be done in Iran! Raisi said they could vaccinated 15-20million Iranians in a month if they had the vaccines. “It would be one of our power shows!”
Razi Institute’s COVPars coronavirus vaccine began its first phase of human trials today! The nasal-injectable vaccine will need 3 doses, the first 2 as injection (Day 1, 21 days later) and 3rd one (30 days after the second dose) sprayed into nose. The officials claim the “safety and efficacy” of the vaccine is “good”. According to Fallah, it was tested on 25 green African monkeys starting 8 months ago, however, he didn’t provide any data or details.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated data. The data which have been criticized even by Islamic Republic officials admitting the real numbers are at least 3-4 times higher. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 93 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours while 8,010 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Testing remains in the same range, as shown on the graphs, after 12 months of crisis, only 13% of population have been tested with PCR! Critical and active cases keep rising.
R0: 4.12
Total: 1,631,169 (+8,010)
Dead: 60,073 (+93)
Recovered: 1,393,125
Critical: 3,732 (+3)
Admitted: 177,971 (+1,326)
Tests: 10,853,008 (13.0% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Fatemeh Rahimavian
