Khamenei has come out of his hiding spot, sat in front of cameras, spoke to the representatives at his parliament, and spew his usual talking points! Most of his speech was about ordering them to back off from any plan to question or impeach Hassan Rouhani, his president. But one part of his speech was relevant to one of the most important issues grappling the country, COVID-19. He said, “At the new surge, everybody must follow health instructions and people should come forward to help the families in need.” Once again, instead of using the funds at his disposal to help Iranians, he asks the people to help people, as if he hasn’t made most people struggle in poverty with his ideology and stubbornness.
Islamic Republic doesn’t intend to stop its shenanigans about COVID-19 even though it directly impacts more than 82 million Iranians. Sima Sadat Lari, Ministry of Health Spokesperson, announced the red and alarming provinces but again by adding new ones, moving a couple from one category to the other and omitting some! She mentioned Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi, West Azerbaijan and Mazandaran in the red category while Tehran, Fars, Kerman, Alborz, Kohgiloyeh-Boyerahmad, Golestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan and East Azarbaijan designated “alarming” status. Comparing this list to the one from yesterday, should paint a clear picture of regime’s deceit. In the meantime, officials from Qazvin, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Sistan-Baluchestan, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Ardebil, Zanjan, Ilam and Yazd all reported increased cases and deaths in their provinces, with Sistan-Baluchestan announcing an average of 200 cases in a day. But Ministry of Health rather not announce these on national TV to prevent “corona scare” as Rouhani called it yesterday! Although, this pattern has been going on since Lari was appointed to this post in June 9.
The contradictions and propaganda don’t end there. While the government has stopped any export of masks and other needed medical supplies and equipment, head of Food & Drug Administration says, “we’re exporting our medical equipment to Europe. ”
Head of Public Relations Office at Iran Medical Council, Dr Kermanpour, has a different opinion than the top Islamic Republic officials about the causes of the new surge in coronavirus infection cases. He said compared to late May-early June, there are 200% increase in cases in some hospitals! When asked why, he said, “When the outbreak became serious, IRIB and all officials started to tell people to take it seriously at every commercial, before/after prayers, airing “Azamul-Bala prayer” at every chance,… but when the situation got a little better, everything stopped and just “Azamul-Bala” was aired! People thought everything was back to normal again and it’s not serious any more! And that’s why we’re here today.” He also said in the new wave, the average age of patients has decreased significantly, from 55 to around 40, and mostly people are infected in families, not individually, making this wave even more dangerous. That’s in line with what we had reported before, even children dying of the disease. Torbat Jaam officials announced 3 new kids have passed on, a 5 day-old, a 59-day-old and a 3-year-old.
Kermanpour continued, “We should have kept the alarm at a reasonable level instead of turning it off completely and suddenly! We should have had a plan for all this but we didn’t.” This is in direct contrast with what Saeed Namaki had claimed multiple times, “we’ve had plans since day 1” and “EU has asked to use our model to combat COVID-19.” Kermanpour also said, “Unfortunately, masks, gloves and disinfectant solutions are scarce again and the prices have soared, causing people not buy any, because they really can’t afford them.” He added, “According to our data, Eid Fitr holidays seem to be the starting point for this wave.” That could be traced back to “Laylatul-Qadr” and then “Eid Fitr” which Khamenei pressured Rouhani and other officials to allow gatherings across the country! A totalitarian theocretical regime couldn’t get any better!
Moreover, Alireza Karimi wrote a piece at Aftab Yazd daily newspaper blaming officials as well. He wrote, “We are dealing with authorities that don’t know what they want or do. One day they tell people mask is not necessary for everybody even though WHO had said the opposite. The next they insist everybody must wear one or no services will be provided to them. Again, WHO is saying coronavirus could be transmitted through aerosols but our Health Minister insists that’s not correct! Why would he say that if the international health organization with hundreds of well-known experts say the opposite? Why do we always think we’re the best at everything and don’t take a lesson from others?”
On the 146th day of the outbreak, Sima Sadat Lari announced her fake and manipulated numbers: 2,186 new cases and 194 deaths in the past 24 hours. Almost 5 months of suffering due to Islamic Republic mismanagement and lies, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any plan to tackle the novel coronavirus other than “prayers”! Growth factors and other graphs show the ongoing human catastrophe in Iran, in media blackout! Increasing number of critical patients and deaths is significant.
R0: 1.29
Total: 257,303 (+2,186)
Dead: 12,829 (+194)
Healed: 219,993
Critical: 3,359 (+21)
Admitted: 24,481 (-335)
Tests: 1,972,207 (Number of labs wasn’t mentioned in today’s news. Officials may have finally figured out there are discrepancies when they lie.)
