Tehran Governor admits the capital is still in “red” category of COVID-19 “high risk” areas with 1,400-1,700 hospitalizations a day, despite showing “orange” in the Ministry of Health “coloring map!” Bandpey criticized the slow vaccination process and confessed 22 Health Homes is not enough to serve a city with more than 9 million residents. He added there are 1.7million people aged 60 and above who are the most vulnerable to coronavirus, live in Tehran and must be prioritized for vaccination. According to National Task Force Spokesman, at the moment 80+ are receiving shots, and 75+ will be next in line, from next Saturday! Bandpey stated 365,000 75+ live in Tehran province.
In the meantime, Sadegh Tabrizi, Director of Health Networks Center at Islamic Republic Ministry of Health, claims “about 1.5million doses” will arrive in Iran by Friday! He did not specify the name or origin of the supposed shipment. He promised the use of those vaccines on 75+ population across Iran from Saturday! Tabrizi also claimed more than 420,000 of 1.1million 80+ have been vaccinated so far, making it clear that in all Islamic Republic officials’ statements, “vaccinated” means “1 dose,” even though all vaccines available in Iran are double dosed! He asserted 10million doses will be imported by June 5, without offering more details. According to Tabrizi, it would take a week from Saturday, May 15, to “vaccinate” 840,000 across the country, between the ages of 75 and 80.
Those false and empty promises, in addition to other officials’ claims in the past few days, makes the future for Iran COVID-19 crisis bleaker than anticipated. Especially since Indian variant of coronavirus has been designated as “concerning” by WHO and Indian officials warn about fatal “black fungus” concurrent infection in COVID-19 patients! Indian variant has been confirmed in Qom, West Azerbaijan, Yazd and Bushehr. South African strain is confirmed in Hormozgan.
Since February 9, on average, 9,556 doses of COVID-19 vaccine per day, a total of 1,740,048 have been administered. In the 90 days, only 0.34% of Iran population, 290,347, have received 2 doses.
Meanwhile, the patients have to pass many obstacles, find connections and pay hefty prices to receive a shot of remdesivir in Islamic Republic hospitals. In a local report from Tehran hospitals, the antiviral drug seems almost impossible to find, despite Ministry of Health claiming it was readily available everywhere!
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 351 died of COVID-19 in the past 24hrs in Iran while 18,408 tested positive for the novel coronavirus, showing a significant increase from the day before. Iran Medical Board officials admit the real numbers are at least 3 times higher than daily official reports. The graphs show the apparent jump and continued crisis in the country. Sima Sadat Lari continues to refuse providing specific variant data.
R0: 3.72
Total: 2,673,219 (+18,408)
Dead: 75,261 (+351)
Recovered: 2,127,192
Critical: 5,533 (-5)
Active Cases: 470,566 (+567)
Tests: 17,206,735 (20.4% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mohammad Mohsenzadeh – Qadr nights gatherings – Jamkaran Mosque, Qom, May 5
