Today, 13 new cities are added to the list of 51 “red and orange” cities, creating more chaos for travelers during the Persian New Year Holidays. The 5 new reds are in East Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Tehran and Isfahan. That would bring the total number of red cities, extremely high risk for coronavirus, to 17 across Iran. The color of each city was to be updated on a weekly basis. The last time the list was updated was March 20, three days ago.
Ilam officials warn 4 of the cities may turn orange any moment, indicating a rise in their cases and hospitalizations. The Governor is concerned about the increasing infections. Tehran Governor expresses his worry about 6 of the cities in “orange” status, while blaming people for traveling! Bandpey said the UK variant is the major concern since it is fast-spreading and deadlier than Wuhan version. While Abdolnejadian was hoping for downgrading 2 of Khuzestan’s cities yesterday, today, he admits cases have spiked in the last 2 days. Head of Ahvaz Medical University said Izeh and Behbahan are added to the “red” cities, demanding people to stop traveling and follow the protocols more.
Hormozgan officials confirmed another 29 cases of British variant, making the total 299 in the province. They admitted the uptrend in these cases are a sign of another wave waiting to happen. Zanjan Medical University reiterated the UK variant is prevalent in all cities of the province. Babol Medical University announced 1 death and 16 cases of UK variant in the city. Head of the University warned about minors being the main target of this variant.
Despite all warnings, Tehran University is to hold practical and laboratory classes for its students in person after the Nowruz holidays. According to the Deputy Head in Education, all students from Tehran and other cities could take the classes in person and stay in their dorms!
Meanwhile, Sima Sadat Lari presented her daily manipulated figures, even though they are scrutinized from the beginning of COVID-19 epidemic in Iran 13 months ago, and Iran Medical Council officials admitted the real numbers are at least 3 times higher. Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 74 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran while 7,290 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Testing remains in the same range. Critical and active cases continue to rise as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.77
Total: 1,815,712 (+7,290)
Dead: 61,951 (+74)
Recovered: 1,555,766
Critical: 3,865 (+4)
Admitted: 197,995 (+1,099)
Tests: 12,284,847 (14.8% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Naser Jafari – Nowruz celebration in Brick Kiln in Shamsabad, where most laborers are children.
