Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Health Minister, finally said what we’ve been saying for WEEKS and MONTHS! He said, “The situation is not good at all, it’s dreadful, the whole country is in red (dangerously critical) status and if the admissions don’t decline, 200+ daily deaths will be our guest for now.” He called Tehran the epicenter of the disease and said people traveling and commuting to other cities are spreading the virus. He added there are more than 600 daily admissions in Tehran and currently 4500 are in hospitals. Harirchi reiterated admissions and deaths are the consequences of “our own doing”, “What we do wrong in health protocols will show itself in increasing walk-in cases 5-7 days later, 2-3 weeks later in admissions and 4-6 weeks later in deaths.” He said there is no policy about “herd immunity” in the government since it wouldn’t work.
This official continued, “let me be clear, there is no treatment for this virus. Even Remdesivir only works on 20% of people and Favipiravir doesn’t have any significant effect on patients. People should not go pay hefty amounts for them.” Deputy Health Minister believes there would be no vaccine for another year and people must adapt to live with the virus! For whatever reason, he went back on Rouhani’s adamant statement about Moharram and said, “religion has its own leader like the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollahs who would prioritize people’s health. Not everybody should say something that might get embarrassed later. Let policymakers make the decisions.”
What Harirchi said about the dire situation throughout Iran is true, however, some of what he said is in direct contradiction with other officials, including the President of Islamic Republic, Hassan Rouhani. We reported earlier about Dr. Zafarghandi, head of Iran Medical Council, hinting “herd immunity” is the goal of the government, despite his warnings. Rouhani also has implied that by announcing 25,000,000 infections and 30-35 million future infections! Deputy Health Minister is not on the same page with his boss, Saeed Namaki, Health Minister, either. He had given the “good news” of distributing “Made-in-Iran” Remdesivir and Favipiravir in hospitals. Iraj Harirchi contradicted what Sima Sadat Lari says every day on TV, dissecting the country into “red” and “alarming” categories, putting Tehran and Alborz in the latter!
Ministry of Health Spokesperson announced 2,333 new cases and 216 deaths in the past 24 hours while 3,695 patients are in critical condition. According to Harirchi, usually, nothing could be done for a patient who is intubated! The same 25 provinces are named as “red” and “alarming”, more than 90% of the country. Lari confirmed the number of admissions in Tehran is increasing sharply and half of ICU beds in Tehran province are occupied by COVID-19 patients. She also commented about Isfahan’s soaring cases and said the main worry in the country is exhausted and burnt out healthcare staff! She didn’t mention anything about the widespread shortage of masks, hospital beds and ICU supplies across the country, for example, Tabriz reported 120 patients in ICUs across East Azerbaijan are “waiting” for ventilators!
In the meantime, Abadan Medical University official said Khuzestan shouldn’t loosen the restrictions suddenly even though “we might have passed the peak for now, but it’s very fragile.” Governor of Khuzestan emphasized on keeping on restrictions and asked people to “tolerate” the situation. Both officials reiterated they should be ready for fall, when the situation could get worse. Khuzestan is one of the hottest areas in Iran, with daily temperature reaching 120, easily, and many areas of the province are underdeveloped, even without drinking water!
While Islamic Republic is waiting for a miracle to contain the virus and many people are against regime’s policies in all aspects of their lives, many provinces extended their restrictions for another week, making more people losing their livelihood, and the pressure on the already poor is worse than ever. The vicious cycle continues. Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs show how we got here with more than 205+ deaths a day! The world’s death rate is decreasing while in Iran, it has increased to 5.8% from 5.4% a week ago, based on fake and manipulated data by Ministry of Health.
R0: 1.36
Total: 291,172 (+2,333)
Dead: 15,700 (+216)
Healed: 253,213
Critical: 3,695 (+25)
Admitted: 22,036 (+223)
Tests: 2,327,850 (Number of labs wasn’t mentioned in today’s news. Officials may have finally figured out there are discrepancies when they lie.)
