COVID-19 situation in Iran worsens by the day while Islamic Republic’s inaction and ignorance has done nothing to curtain the sixth wave. Deputy Health Minister in Public Health reiterated health experts’ prediction that the next 2 weeks would be the peak of Omicron wave. Dr. Heydari confirmed hospitalizations have increased 3 times in the past few days. He urged the public to receive their 3rd dose of vaccination as soon as possible. Heydari also expressed his concern over rising infections among children.
Fars reports more than 1,010 hospitalized patients with 268 in the past 24 hours alone. Semnan has had 5 times more “suspected” COVID-19 cases in 2 weeks. Gilan records 520 admitted at its hospitals with surge in cases and deaths. Alborz is on the same boat with sharp spike in infections. Hamedan joins other provinces on high alert and reports 10% rise in cases. In 1 week, COVID-19 infections have tripled in East Azerbaijan.
While Deputy Health Minister in Public Health claims “We have set up a supermarket of vaccines”, 2 more vaccines are being added to the isle! One is supposedly mRNA base and the other one deactivated virus, both waiting on “permission to begin clinical trials.” 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.”
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 20,516,478 (24.42% 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 Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 116 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 39,085 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 begin to rise too. 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. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 2.32
Total: 6,696,927 (+39,085)
Dead: 133,164 (+116)
Recovered: 6,215,909
Critical: 2,853 (+129)
Active Cases: 347,854 (+14,806)
Total Tests: 45,707,518
Cover: Majid Khahi
