Head of Ahvaz Medical University warns about long and continuous blackouts causing near death experience for COVID-19 and other patients on oxygen. Dr. Abolnejadian also expressed his concern over the possible disruption in cold chain process of storing COVID-19 vaccines, saying the power outage may make vaccines unusable if it is for a long time. On the other hand, he announced the end of vaccine reserve in Khuzestan awaiting new batch.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health confirms spread of Indian (Delta) and South African (Beta) variants of coronavirus in 5 provinces with “red” cities, warning the situation is fragile and unstable. Bushehr health officials warn the new variants threat the province. Zanjan sounded the alarm about increasing number of cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations in Abhar. Khuzestan authorities say protocol compliance has decreased, because people assume everything is back to normal, when there is a chance of returning to red or orange status at any time! A supervisor at a hospital in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province reports increasing number of cases and hospitalizations. She said 90% of beds are occupied. Salehi made it clear that the fifth wave would be worse than the last one and considering the upcoming “elections,” it is inevitable. Mazandaran officials sounded the alarm for the next wave due to the holidays and “elections” gatherings.
On the other hand, vaccination process remains a mystery in Iran. While Naser Riahi announced 4million doses of AstraZeneca and Sinopharm have been purchased by private importers, FDA Spokesman insisted no vaccine has been imported by the 35 private companies holding permits! Dr. Jahanpur claimed there have been 270million doses “pre-purchased, purchased, manufactured in Iran” but only about 6million doses have been attained! According to the Ministry of Health data, since February 9, total of 4,312,594 shots are administered with 526,326 (0.62% of population) receiving their second doses as well.
Dr. Jahanpur asserted the collaborated Iran-Cuba vaccine, Soberana 02, has almost passed the third phase of its clinical trial, and COVIran Barekat is almost halfway there! He said Razi Institute’s COVPars and Defense Ministry’s Fakhra will not be available until October. Director of Public Relations Office at Ministry of Health continued the other homegrown vaccine is Cinagen which is a collaboration with an Australian company will pass its second and third phases of clinical trial in Iran! Jahanpur admitted production of Sputnik V in Iran has hit some bumps in cell culture, delaying the process. He said Soberana will be available to use in the country first, and then COVIran Barekat! It is worth noting, there have been rumors that COVIran Barekat is a rebranding of the Chinese Sinopharm.
According to Jahanpur, Sputnik V is behind in providing 60million doses! He claimed “even if 50% of our predictions are right, we will be ahead of our program! That is 120-130million doses.” He repeated the usual promise of Islamic Republic officials that by October, public immunization will begin.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 171 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran and 10,687 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Sima Sadat Lari did not provide specific information on the new variants. Iran Medical Board officials estimate the real number of cases and COVID-19 deaths are at least 3 times higher than the daily reports. The graphs show the fourth wave is not over yet.
R0: 3.23
Total: 2,923,823 (+10,687)
Dead: 80,327 (+171)
Recovered: 2,477,596
Critical: 4,064 (-96)
Active Cases: 365,900 (-8,396)
Tests: 20,059,238 (23.9% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mahshid Fallahi
