According to highly questionable and undercounted data from Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Health, 217 more Iranians have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours while 2,414 were confirmed cases in the same time period. Sima Sadat Lari, Ministry Spokesperson, doesn’t even bother to name provinces in red and “alarming” status, continues her pattern and announced the “same provinces in red status as previous days.” While the 10 provinces she named 3 days ago, East Azerbaijan, Ilam, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Bushehr, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Golestan, Kerman and Fars, are still critical, Alborz, Tehran, Ardebil and Mazandaran are seeing rise in numbers by the hour, but 3 of them not even make it to the list of Sadat Lari.
Ardebil officials reported “unprecedented and critical” situation with 330 admissions in one shift in one hospital in the city of Ardebil, making the hospital at full capacity. Rezaei Bana, a deputy head at Ardebil Medical University said some died at the emergency room entrance and most of dead were in their late 20s-30s. Mazandaran also reports 339 admissions in the past 24 hours!
Tehran’s situation is not any better, as reported yesterday. But Lari insists the situation is getting better in capital when people using masks have increased to 60% of the population! But daily number of new cases and deaths tell a different story. In the meantime, healthcare staff are falling victim to Islamic Republic’s mismanagement and incompetency more than any other profession. In addition to not being compensated fairly and not having any rest due to shortage of human resources, there are huge number of infections among them due to lack of proper protection. In Golestan, 340, in Ilam more than 400, and this list goes on and on, according to an official from the Minister, at least 12,000 of healthcare staff in the country have been infected with the novel coronavirus, close to 150 have passed away and many cannot continue working in the same field.
Saeed Namaki, the “Great Predictor”, foresees worse days are ahead. The Health Minister has predicted many “incidents” in the past which none has come even close to reality, but this one is different, because it’s matched with what’s happening in Iran. Islamic Republic has done nothing to contain the spread but since the beginning of this disaster, has actually made it worse with back-to-back wrong decisions, including allowing religious gatherings across the country on “Laylatul Qadr” and “Eid Fitr”, which cause spike in cases a week or two later. Now, every day, there is news about Rouhani or some other official looking for “plans” and “protocols” to allow Moharram ceremonies, starting August 20. Protocols which aren’t enforced and are one of the reasons more people are dying this time around, even based on Ministry’s stats.
Namaki, in the online conference with heads of Medical Universities confirmed the shortage of masks and other protective gears in hospitals promising to resolve the issue by the heal of Basij and Armed Forces very soon. He also said Remdesivir made in Iran is distributed in hospitals yesterday. Also Favipiravir produced in the country is available in hospitals. Both these pills were imported in the country but IRGC hoarded and sold them in black market to a point where Ministry of Health officials even denied their efficacy and said people should not buy them!
Deputy Health Minister in Education, Ali Akbar Haghdoost, said, “We were trying to use summer time as part of the new school year but if the situation continues like this in summer, we may have to think of another way for the next school year.” He said college students in their last semester may graduate early and medical students in their last year may be needed in hospitals because the healthcare system needs fresh blood. Instead of hiring unemployed nurses and doctors, they would rather force medical interns to fill in the vacant spots!
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) is increased and graphs continue to point towards an ongoing human catastrophe in Iran while media is busy with other news! More than 200 deaths on a daily basis doesn’t catch the attention of enough Iranians apparently, it may be more important to talk about Israeli strikes in Syria.
R0: 1.34
Total: 276,202 (+2,414)
Dead: 14,405 (+217)
Healed: 240,087
Critical: 3,583 (+27)
Admitted: 21,710 (-98)
Tests: 2,175,217 (Number of labs wasn’t mentioned in today’s news. Officials may have finally figured out there are discrepancies when they lie.)
