According to the new list of “high risk” areas provided by the Islamic Republic Ministry of Health, “red” cities almost doubled to 63 from 32! Some cities were upgraded from “yellow” to “red” without going through the middle range, “orange.” In addition to the southern belt of Iran, now cities in the west, center and northern parts of the country experience a spike in the coronavirus infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations. Officials in the capital report rising hospitalizations and say Tehran will be “red” soon, too.
While Islamic Republic officials have been busy competing each other in “unveiling a new vaccine,” Delta variant has spread throughout the country. Mashhad Medical University reported 10 confirmed cases in the second biggest city in Iran. Governor of Mashhad expressed his worry about the fifth wave of coronavirus! Zanjan Governor warned about the upcoming trouble if protocols are not followed! Fars officials called the fifth wave in south of the province a “serious concern” and sounded the alarm about increasing number of cases.
Khuzestan authorities reiterated the same points, clarifying the fifth wave has begun in other cities and may reach the province. According to the Ministry, 2 of the red cities are in Khuzestan. Malayer in Hamedan is “very close to turn red any day.” Mazandaran reports uptick in cases and hospitalizations on daily basis. Alborz joins the provinces with an uptrend in infections and warning “be ready for the fifth wave,” because 1 person with Delta variant can infect 8 people at once!
In the meantime, vaccination process continues mostly for the second doses and long overnight lines for the elderly keeps growing and spreading to more cities. The medical community across the country is fed up with the incompetency, rule breaking and negligence of Ministry of Health, gathered in protest demanding the regime officials to respect their professional rights and people’s health.
According to official data, since February 9, total of 5,907,914 shots have been administered while only 1,481,010 (1.76% of Iran population) are fully vaccinated with 2 doses of Covaxin (India), AstraZeneca (COVAX), Sputnik V (Russia) and Sinopharm (China).
Despite shortage of vaccines for weeks and Delta variant emerging to become dominant in Iran which could infect even fully vaccinated individuals, the head of FDA spouted off people are free to choose which vaccine they receive, however, it depends on what is available! Dr. Shanehsaz also boastfully claimed 60 million Iranians will receive at least 1 shot by fall! According to him, many doses are on the pipe to be imported but refused to provide any details “until they arrive.” National COVID-19 Task Force Spokesman had spoiled the details yesterday!
On the other hand, even after months of propaganda by the Islamic Republic and its media for COVIran Barekat, its use is pushed back once again! Dr. Qolyan from Mashhad Medical University said “domestic vaccines” will be used after July 22! In the opening ceremony of the “biggest vaccination center in east of Iran,” he claimed 7-10,000 shots per day could be administered while enough vaccines are available.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented the daily manipulated data criticized by officials and experts, including Iran Medical Board who estimate the real numbers are at least 3 times higher than the daily reports. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 142 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran and 12,717 tested positive for the novel coronavirus, another uptick as seen on the graphs. She refused to provide any details on specific variants.
R0: 2.80
Total: 3,192,809 (+12,717)
Dead: 84,127 (+142)
Recovered: 2,862,261
Critical: 3,176 (-9)
Active Cases: 246,421 (-1,644)
Tests: 23,538,876 (27.9% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
