Even manipulated and undercounted data of Islamic Republic Ministry of Health shows that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in Iran, almost 30% from the day before. Secretary of Epidemiology Committee of National COVID-19 Task Force said 40% of cases in Iran are caused by Omicron infection. Dr. Younesian admitted signs of the sixth wave are appearing as the cases soar across the country. He predicted Omicron will be the dominant variant in Iran by next week. He also confirmed that 10% of eligible population have not received any shot.
Secretary of Ahvaz Health Network announced that Omicron has become the dominant variant in capital of Khuzestan province. Dr. Ahmadi-Baloutaki admitted the number of outpatients have been increasing and eventually the hospitalizations are surging too. He said only 1% of COVID-19 cases are chosen for sequencing, “so the reported number of Omicrons in the country must be multiplied by 100!” Head of Ahvaz Medical University reiterated the same point and asked people to get their 3rd dose of vaccination as soon as possible.
Amid all the warnings, Deputy Science Minister ordered all universities to reopen and hold in-person classes for the next semester. According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 12,855,978 (15.30% 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.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 20 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 3,163 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: 6,224,196 (+3,163)
Dead: 132,095 (+20)
Recovered: 6,066,819
Critical: 1,313 (-32)
Active Cases: 25,282 (+970)
Total Tests: 43,499,337
Cover: Majid Dehghanizadeh
