Golestan representative in Islamic Republic “parliament” describes COVID-19 situation in his province as “black not red!” Hospitals are full across the country as it seems Delta variant has found its perfect environment to flourish! Islamic Republic continues to blame people and hold religious gatherings while there is no more bed available for COVID-19 patients! Mashhad Medical University official predicts next week would be impossible to admit new patients since “cases and hospitalizations are through the roof and follow a steep curve!”
Semnan Medical University in a statement beg people to comply with COVID-19 restrictions because the numbers are going up every second and healthcare staff are burnt out and exhausted. Mazandaran is using private hospitals to accommodate the overwhelming number of cases while 3 largest cities in the province are out of bed, all when the peak of the fifth wave is not here yet! Tonekabon, Mazandaran is way “beyond critical” and specialists demand the city to be on total lockdown for at least 10 days. Hormozgan Medical University Spokesperson even reported 136 patients are over the capacity of the hospitals in the province, waiting for a bed!
While Delta variant continues breaking records on a daily basis, even based on the manipulated data of Islamic Republic Ministry of Health, Secretary of COVID-19 Scientific Committee warned about Lambda variant and predicted the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths would continue to increase in coming days! Dr. Abedini admitted healthcare staff are out of breath and collapsing under the huge pressure. She rebuked the “responsible organizations” for implementing travel ban during 6-day lockdown of Tehran and Alborz for letting travels to happen and now Golestan and Mazandaran are in deep trouble. However, she did not mention how those 6 days were supposed to help the crisis.
While experts believe the golden time for vaccination has passed and none of the current vaccines used in Iran (few available doses of AstraZeneca, majority of Sinopharm and COVIran Barekat) are that effective against the wild Delta (Indian) variant, Islamic Republic officials continue trumpeting how they would administer 1 dose of these to people “soon!” National COVID-19 Task Force Spokesman claimed teachers vaccination begins tomorrow but they could be vaccinated in their schools because “their dignity is beyond waiting in line in vaccination centers,” as millions of other Iranians prefer to wait in long chaotic lines! Dr. Raisi also claimed 7million more doses will be available by August 21.
According to official data, since February 9, total of 11,407,738 shots have been administered while only 2,558,802 (3.04% of population) are fully vaccinated. As the officials only consider 1 dose as “vaccination”, the gap between the 1 and 2 doses is growing every day, raising the possibility of the whole process as futile, especially with Delta and unpredictable new variants.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 303 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours and 33,817 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Iran Medical Board estimates the real figures are at least 3 times higher than the daily reports. As seen on the graphs, daily testing reduces while active and critical cases continue to soar.
R0: 2.92
Total: 3,792,014 (+33,817)
Dead: 89,782 (+303)
Recovered: 3,310,163
Critical: 5,205 (+105)
Active Cases: 392,069 (+15,330)
Tests: 25,731,940 (30.5% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Masoud Mohaghegh
