Member of National COVID-19 Scientific Committee forewarned about the 7th wave in Iran. Dr. Tabatabaei said the problem is protocols are not followed. He called on the parents to vaccinated their eligible children because Omicron and its subvariant BA.2 is more infectious in children. The expert warned about shortage of PICU beds in case another wave begins.
An epidemiologist expressed his concern over slow decline in number of COVID-19 daily deaths in Iran. Dr. Younesian said he expected the daily death toll to reach 2-digits this week but it has not yet. He warned Omicron is not the end of COVID-19 pandemic and urged people to complete their vaccination with their 3rd dose. Another expert reiterated this is the golden time to complete the series with 3 doses. Dr. Noursalehi asked people not to leave masks behind.
However, none of these experts mentioned that Islamic Republic, using its massive propaganda network, has been normalizing the situation, encouraging people to attend religious gatherings, relaxing travel restrictions, mandating 2-dose vaccination despite the Ministry of Health definition of “full vaccination with 3 dose”, and holding crowded “pilgrims” ceremonies in Mashhad with more than 500,000 people on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Khuzestan continues recording another surge in COVID-19 cases. Dr. Alavi from Ahvaz Medical University reported 16.8% increase in infections from the day before while 70% more people visited the hospitals. He admitted vaccination is progressing slowly, with only 11.5% of 5-11 year olds have received shots and merely 32% of 18+ have administered 3 doses in the province. It is worth mentioning, the tsunami of Delta began in Khuzestan.
The Islamic Republic “Supreme Leader” banned the reliable US and UK made vaccines, leading to tsunami of deaths during Delta wave. Khamenei promoted his foundation’s shot, COVIran Barekat, which failed miserably. Multiple “homegrown” vaccines, including PastoCoVac, COVPars, Fakhra, Noora, Spikogen, never met the expectations and none of them has published their results or received recognition/approval from international health organizations.
According to official definition of “full vaccination” and Ministry of Health data, since February 9, only 25,204,367 (30.00% of Iran population) are vaccinated against COVID-19 with these vaccines. It is estimated that more than 53 million Iranians are at risk of contracting Omicron. The majority of shots used in Iran are the ineffective Sinopharm and COVIran Barekat. WHO recommends 3 doses of Sinopharm to be effective against Delta but studies have found the vaccine ineffective against Omicron.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 114 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 3,813 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Number of daily tests performed in the country continue to decline despite experts advice to have a more active case finding. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 325,000 have died of the disease since February 2020.
R0: 1.94
Total: 7,126,906 (+3,813)
Dead: 139,063 (+114)
Recovered: 6,785,933
Critical: 2,871 (+39)
Active Cases: 201,910 (-2,285)
Total Tests: 48,323,110
Cover: Fatemeh Rahimavian
