President of the Islamic Republic in the weekly meeting of National Task Force said, “COVID-19 vaccination will start by February 20. Since the domestic vaccines are not going to be ready by Summer, importing foreign ones is a necessity.” He didn’t mention the origin of these imported vaccines. He admitted the cases are increasing in “some areas” and in young adults and minors. He called these “troublesome.” In the meantime, Zafarghandi, Chariman of Iran Medical Council reported the spike in cases is in 6 provinces. He mentioned the recent gatherings (Fatemieh) and normalization of the situation as the culprits.
National Task Force Spokesman also sounded the alarm for the next peak. He said the number of walk-ins have soared, especially in Tehran. Raisi added, there could be new restrictions in some areas which would be discussed in future meetings. He defended himself implicitly against the recent criticism from Qom clerics and authorities. “Any gathering will cause spread of the virus and there is no exception, we should call them out and warn against holding gatherings.” He emphasized coronavirus has become more virulent and shouldn’t be taken lightly at any time. In another interview, he said, virus spreading among younger adults could be a sign of the UK fast-spreading variant in Iran!
Khuzestan Governor reports increasing number of cases, asking authorities to act fast. Fars Medical University official said, “We’re at the beginning of the fourth peak.” Tehran Corona Combating Committee reports 1.4% increase in COVID-19 deaths, and 3% in admissions. According to Dr. Zali, recoveries have decreased 50% compared to the day before. He confirmed the staggering rise in infections among 5-17 year olds in the past 2 weeks. “Admission among this group has jumped to 8-10% while it was only 1.5-2% two months ago.”
The devastating situation in Iran has made Germany to add Iran and 19 other countries to the list of “high incidence areas,” making travelers from these countries to follow specific rules and mandatory quarantines.
In the meantime, the shortage of medicine, especially insulin, has caused officials to comment on the issue. According to an FDA official, there’s only enough insulin in the country for the next month and shortage is only related to “foreign brand names.” Mohammadi admitted there are some smuggling operations to the neighboring countries, even though Islamic Republic officials have previously denied the 19 trucks of medications smuggled to Iraq!
Sima Sadat Lari presented her daily undercounted and manipulated data. She announced 69 COVID-19 deaths and 6,207 positive coronavirus PCR tests in the past 24 hours in Iran. Despite all the warnings, the statistics and numbers are being set to show normal situation for Islamic Revolution 42nd anniversary on February 10! Testing remains in the same range. Number of red counties has reached 0 but she voiced her concern about the start of next peak. Lari said, “The downward trend has stopped and it makes us worried.”
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs illustrate 11+ months of horrid situation Iranians have been through, even though they’re based on the fake data of the regime.
R0: 4.20
Total: 1,367,032 (+6,207)
Dead: 57,294 (+69)
Recovered: 1,158,475
Critical: 4,106 (-28)
Admitted: 151,263 (-661)
Tests: 8,850,281 (10.6% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Maryam Kamyab; School of “children workers” in Mashhad
