At the eve of Persian New Year (Nowruz), some officials warn people’s traveling is creating traffic on the roads and transportation hubs, leading to more than 11,500 screening tests on the borders, while some other say the roads are quiet and people have had the utmost cooperation with authorities and are not traveling to prevent spread of coronavirus, especially its new UK variant. In the meantime, different provinces reported new confirmed cases of the mutated virus.
Ahvaz Health Network issued a warning that in the next few weeks there would be another outbreak of COVID-19 in Khuzestan, saying traffic and traveling is too much! According to Dr. Ahmadi, cases have decreased 20% from last week but it is still more than desired! Hormozgan officials announced 20 new confirmed cases of UK variant in the province, with 16 in Kish Island, one of the vacation destinations during holidays. Ilam recorded 23 new UK variant cases. Semnan authorities say they don’t accept any guest during Persian New Year, reporting 4 patients with UK variant. East Azerbaijan requested people not to travel to the province while 2 of its counties are on “orange” status.
Meanwhile, Friday Prayers were held across the country despite all warnings and officials asking no gatherings to be held, even small family gatherings during Nowruz! Khamenei Representative in Bushehr criticized the government for reopening the businesses and cities but ask them not to travel! He called it a “contradiction which must be addressed.”
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated data. Iran Medical Council members have admitted the real numbers are at least 3 times higher. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 68 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours while 7,620 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Daily PCR tests reduced another 1,000, despite officials promising 100,000 daily PCR tests months ago. In the past 13 months since the COVID-19 epidemic began in Iran, only 14.5% of population have been PCR tested. Critical and active cases continue to rise as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.83
Total: 1,786,265 (+7,620)
Dead: 61,649 (+68)
Recovered: 1,528,694
Critical: 3,879 (+13)
Admitted: 195,922 (+235)
Tests: 12,039,329 (14.5% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Majid Khahi
