Amir Hatami, Defense Ministry of Islamic Republic, at the inauguration ceremony of “Fakhra,” Defense Ministry’s coronavirus vaccine which they claim was developed by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, quoted Khamenei, that in fighting the virus “act like a military drill” since “enemy may use it to attack us with it one day!” Hatami also claimed in 3 months the vaccine will reach the mass production stage, a timeline highly unlikely, based on COVIran Barekat and other domestic vaccine developments!
Hassan Rouhani, as usual, praised himself and his administration in handling the COVID-19 crisis in Iran, saying people may have suffered a little but we didn’t let “Iran become Venezuela.” However, according to reports and even Islamic Republic controlled media, people line up for chicken, cooking oil, bread, meat,… at subsidized prices because they cannot afford to buy it in the free market, and that has been a major concern for health experts and spread of the coronavirus, especially the UK variant.
While Saeed Namaki and his Ministry have repeatedly claimed victory in controlling the epidemic in Iran which started 13 months ago, Deputy Health Minister Harirchi predicted 200 daily deaths for June! It’s worth noting, Islamic Republic officials have boastfully asserted the mass immunization with domestic and foreign vaccines will be done in June!
On the one hand, Namaki’s Advisor in Khuzestan, claims COVID-19 cases are declining and states change of color in 2 of the counties to orange as his evidence. On the other hand, Ahvaz Medical University official says coronavirus is on the rise in Khuzestan and is like a “ticking bomb.” Abolnejadian admits COVID-19 management has become very difficult in the province. Kermanshah warns about the spread of UK variant and its officials predict the capital will be upgraded to “orange” soon. Bandar Abbas officials say the city is in “red” status, even though National Task Force only announced 9 cities as red across Iran, 8 of which are in Khuzestan and 1 in Kohgiloyeh-Boyerahmad.
Qazvin reported 22 new cases of UK variant in one city, which due to its 8,000+ population officials refuse to quarantine the city. Dr Sedaghat from Mashhad sounded the alarm that the current situation is the calm before the storm! Head of Emergency Services in Tehran announced increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the capital in addition to the patients being in more serious condition than before. Dr. Saaberian also said the incubation period for the patients has shortened significantly. Deputy Governor of Fars followed the same line, confirming the situation is “extremely fragile,” with positivity rate of 22% in the province, 40% hospitalization rate and 3% death rate. Lorestan authorities admit the red alarm for the “fourth peak” has gone off!
In the meantime, Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated data, even though they are criticized by officials and proven to be engineered. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 97 died of COVID-19 in the past 24hours in Iran while 8,380 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Daily PCR tests remained in the 65,000 range while positivity rate jumped to 12.85% from 12.25% the day before. Critical and active cases continue to rise as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.85
Total: 1,763,313 (+8,380)
Dead: 61,427 (+97)
Recovered: 1,506,360
Critical: 3,848 (+9)
Admitted: 195,526 (+1,224)
Tests: 11,846,528 (14.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mona Hoobehfekr
