Saeed Namaki blames the resurgence of coronavirus in Iran on people. While that’s no surprise, he said “again some negligence and disloyalty” caused the virus to spread. He didn’t mention any plan to quarantine Khuzestan, the new hot spot for the virus, especially the UK variant. Islamic Republic Interior Minister, Rahmani-Fazli, designated the province’s situation as “Special Condition.” He explained it as all provinces and organizations have to send help and equipment to Khuzestan. He didn’t say anything about sealing off the province while local authorities keep requesting Tehran to allow locking down Khuzestan completely. Khuzestan Governor asked the National Task Force once again, to give authority of controlling the epidemic to local officials!
In the meantime, Abadan Medical College reported increasing number of hospitalizations, and its head predicted the number of deaths are to increase in SW of Khuzestan in near future. The province’s hospitals keep reporting full capacity and first recuperating center is erected for patients in stable condition. Head of Ahvaz Medical University said R0 for Ahvaz was 1.59 three weeks ago and now it’s reached 1.23, meaning each patient infects 1.23 persons. He also said as long as R0 is above 1, the trend will be upward. He admitted the influx of patients surpasses the number of beds, making it “very difficult” to manage the situation.
Other provinces continue reporting a spike in their COVID-19 cases as well. Yazd and Fars officials recorded increasing number of walk-ins. Hamedan Medical University says there are “several suspected cases of UK variant” in the province which may reach 2-digit numbers by next week. Kohgiloyeh city Governor warned residents if they don’t follow the protocols, his office will cut the power across the city between 6 to 8PM, a move used by Ahvaz Governor to prevent gatherings after dark! Bushehr’s Representative is Islamic Consultative Assembly reiterated Dashtestan city and Bushehr hospitals in general, don’t have the capacity to manage flood of patients.
While the second round of vaccinations with Sputnik V has begun, Chairman of Iran Virology Association said it may take a year for 70 million to be immunized which is too long to wait, “it’s imperative that maximum amount of reliable vaccines are imported.”
Ministry of Health Spokesperson presented her daily manipulated data, even though Iran Medical Board officials admitted the real numbers are at least 3-4 times higher. Sima Sadat Lari announced 86 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours in Iran while 8,495 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Testing remains in the same range. Critical cases increased again. Active COVID-19 cases continue to rise, forming the new uptrend as seen on the graphs.
R0: 4.10
Total: 1,648,174 (+8,495)
Dead: 60,267 (+86)
Recovered: 1,406,845
Critical: 3,738 (+11)
Admitted: 181,062 (+1,498)
Tests: 10,972,109 (13.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Alireza Mohammadi
