Saeed Namaki warns about normalization of COVID-19 situation in Iran, asking the healthcare system to be ready for the next peaks! Healthcare system has been overhauled during more than 11 months of coronavirus epidemic. Nurses have been unpaid, exhausted and burnt out. According to Nursing Organization officials, there’s only 0.7 nurse per hospital bed per 24 hours in Iran which is far below the international standards of 3+.
Dr. Zali reports increasing number of walk-ins, admissions and positive PCR tests in Tehran. The head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee said the number of cases in minors, 5-17 years old, has increased. He said the situation in Tehran is extremely fragile and Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) indicates this fact. He called R0 as one of the most important predictors of the epidemic. However, this is the second time it’s mentioned by the Islamic Republic officials.
Zali said the number of people following social distancing protocols has decreased in the past week, it has dropped from 82.3% to 76.6% which is another red alarm. He mentioned the recent gatherings, without naming Fatemieh, as another cause for concern which will lead to increasing number of cases in the upcoming 2-3 weeks. According to him, “the collective signs warn us against premature reopenings, such as wedding venues,…” He added, “The rush in reopenings will lead us to the April scenario.” In April, premature reopenings despite all warnings from health experts led to the second peak of COVID-19 in Iran.
In the meantime, a member of Expediency Council, validated Khamenei’s order to ban UK, US and France made coronavirus vaccines, calling it “100% scientific.” He didn’t provide any scientific evidence but instead piled on the conspiracy theories of IRGC and Khamenei, saying, “US may send fake vaccines to Iran, and this way deteriorate our people’s condition or even kill them.” However, “fake vaccines” have already found their way to the online and black market of Iran. Beheshti Medical University officials issued a statement that “No coronavirus has been approved in Iran yet and all online offers are fake vaccines.” The statement reads, “If there is any report of them to this university, we would have to follow up through Judiciary and file complaints.”
Sima Sadat Lari presented her daily manipulated and undercounted data where 83 have died of COVID-19 and 5,806 tested positive for coronavirus. Despite all the warnings and provinces reporting increasing number of cases and deaths, the Ministry’s numbers continue to decline, every few days, despite the flat curve on the graphs. Testing remains in the same range with only 10.3% of the entire population being tested. 10 counties in Mazandaran are still considered “red.” Dr.Zali said Tehran’s “color” is changing frequently which shows the fragile situation.
R0: 4.20
Total: 1,336,217 (+5,806)
Dead: 56,886 (+83)
Recovered: 1,125,499
Critical: 4,348 (-26)
Admitted: 153,832 (-639)
Tests: 8,580,126 (10.3% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mehdi Deylari
