Today, Saeed Namaki admitted he backed off from his position about considering the new UK variant spread in counties for their color determination. Mr. Health Minister said the Ministry has been against traveling during the Persian New Year Holidays and offered two sets of coloring criteria, one based on the old system and the other based on the British variant of coronavirus. “Our friends at the National Task Force chose to go with happier choice which included less number of red and orange” counties across Iran. He added, the Ministry agreed with their coloring just to have a coordinated voice!
Namaki confirmed healthcare staff have been struggling to make ends meet due to arrears in their wages and benefits, asking the “people responsible” to help him out. Islamic Republic Health Minister continued, even though Khuzestan and other cities grappling with the UK variant have shortage of staff, he wouldn’t be able to send anybody from clean places to the polluted areas. Saeed Namaki warned that this variant could cause a massacre!
Hormozgan health authorities warn about outbreak of the UK coronavirus variant, saying the number of cases is on the rise. The Medical University Spokesperson reported 155 confirmed cases of the mutated virus, and 1,045 patients in self-quarantine! Kermanshah officials express their worry over the next two weeks of family gatherings and traveling during the holidays. Head of Kermanshah Medical University reported distribution of only 5,300 doses of coronavirus vaccine in the province, and average of 0.9 daily death during the past month! Meanwhile, Tehran Corona Combating Committee reported 18% increase in hospitalizations from last week. Dr. Tavakoli said critical cases have increased too and in 3 weeks, number of deaths could rise in the capital.
While recent contradictory comments about travel bans across the country have caused confusion among citizens, National Task Force Spokesperson clarified that himself and Operation Headquarters are the only sources for news about coronavirus. Recently, Traffic Police, some provincial and local officials have announced travel bans for different parts of the country, while National Task Force only forbids traveling to red and orange cities, and only with personal cars.
In addition to chaos at the highest level of decision-making in the regime, the horrid economic situation has brought people in long lines for their most basic needs including chicken! Islamic Republic keeps sending weapons and food to other countries while Iranians are starved. Needless to say, health protocols cannot be followed in crowded lines.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated data even though Chairman of Iran Medical Board admitted the real numbers are at least 3 times higher. According to Sima Sadat Lari 65 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran while 7,802 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Even though more cities are upgraded to “yellow” from “blue”, it doesn’t correspond with the statistics provided by the Ministry! She announced 9 red counties, 31 orange, 295 yellow and 113 blue. Testing remains in the same range, and critical cases continue to rise, as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.83
Total: 1,771,115 (+7,802)
Dead: 61,492 (+65)
Recovered: 1,514,061
Critical: 3,848 (+9)
Admitted: 195,562 (+36)
Tests: 11,912,137 (14.3% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Amin Mohammad Najafi
