Despite Islamic Republic claims, COVID-19 continues to be a major health issue in Iran and Omicron is believed to cause the sixth wave of the deadly disease in the country. In the past 10 days, based on manipulated and undercounted statistics of the regime, 68 tested positive for the novel coronavirus every hour, while 1-2 died of COVID-19.
While all health experts and officials emphasize on social distancing and avoiding any gathering, Islamic Republic held “unknown martyrs’ funerals” across Iran amid growing number of Omicron. Friday Prayers and crowded “Fatemeh mourning gatherings” are also held, with little to no compliance with COVID-19 restrictions.
In the meantime, schools remain open, and students are mandated to taken their exams in-person. Despite regime’s claims that vaccination has been “at good pace”, according to official data, since February 9, only 9,389,424 (11.17% of Iran population) have received 3 doses of 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 a recent report, discrepancies indicate that some of the imported vaccines may have been sent for the terrorist group, Hezbollah. Dr. Zahraei of Ministry of Health admitted the vaccination started late in Iran. He also claimed more “domestic” shots will be introduced to the basket soon.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 24 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 1,579 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. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 316,000 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: 6,203,046 (+1,579)
Dead: 131,802 (+24)
Recovered: 6,047,528
Critical: 2,209 (-143)
Active Cases: 23,716 (-83)
Total Tests: 42,577,332
Cover: Mohammadreza Farbod
