For the first time, Islamic Republic Ministry of Health described “full vaccination” as 3 doses. Hashemi, head of PR office, said the 3 Omicron deaths in Iran were “all elderly” and “not fully vaccinated, because they had not have received 3 doses.” With this description, only 12,521,856 (14.90% of Iran population) are vaccinated against COVID-19 with these vaccines. The majority of shots used in Iran are the ineffective Sinopharm and failed COVIran Barekat. WHO recommends 3 doses of Sinopharm to be effective against Delta but studies have found the vaccine ineffective against Omicron. It is worth mentioning, Khamenei banned US and UK made vaccines in January to promote his own foundation’s COVIran Barekat.
In the meantime, every day, there is a new report from a different university about how the schools and universities would reopen from next week for in-person classes. Some universities make a vague statement saying “classes would eventually become in-person” without offering more details, making students and parents confused.. Islamic Republic “President” has ordered all schools to resume their normal activities despite Omicron rising and COVID-19 cases surging.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 31 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 2,292 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 317,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 1.48
Total: 6,221,033 (+2,292)
Dead: 132,075 (+31)
Recovered: 6,064,646
Critical: 1,345 (-24)
Active Cases: 24,312 (+248)
Total Tests: 43,410,121
Cover: Vahid Khademi