Saeed Namaki, once again, claimed the fourth wave of coronavirus is controlled and passed, across Iran and in all provinces! Islamic Republic Health Minister praised his work and boasted about “setting 162,000 COVID-19 vaccination in 24hours,” and asserted 300,000 record will be set in the next few days. He repeated Rouhani’s promise saying by July 22, 13-14million vulnerable Iranian will be vaccinated. He stated a “heavy” shipment of vaccines have arrived in Tehran. According to Namaki, next week more vaccines will be imported.
FIFTH WAVE?
In the meantime, National Task Force Spokesman and Deputy Health Minister in Public Health said the fourth wave is not over yet and at any moment more cities may be upgraded to “red” status. Dr. Alireza Raisi stated if compliance with health protocols is not increased, the decline in cases would turn into a rise! He also warned Kerman, Sistan-Baluchestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan about South African and Indian variants of coronavirus, confirming there have been 60 cases of these strains in these provinces, however, stopped short of giving more specifics. Raisi promised by March 20, 2022 the immunization of Iranians will conclude. He repeated Namaki’s boastful comment about vaccinating more than 300,000 doses a day by next week!
Dr. Masoud Mardani, a member of National Task Force, said the number of cases are still high and if more people do not follow the protocols, considering the new variants in Iran, the fifth wave will definitely begin. He also warned there should be no “elections” gatherings anywhere in the country. Dr Mardani believes the 3-digit COVID-19 daily death toll will continue for another month. Dr. Tavakoli, a member of Tehran Corona Combating Committee, reiterated that hospitalizations are still high and warned about the fifth wave! He also mentioned Tehran’s status as “red” despite being “orange” in Ministry of Health “risk” map. Meanwhile, Khuzestan officials confirmed 2 crew members of a Brazilian ship have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and waiting on their sequencing testing. Ardabil reports a fragile situation in the province. Fars recorded 21 deaths in a day. Hormozgan Medical University sounded the alarm for spread of Indian and South African vairants.
UNKNOWN VACCINE
FDA Spokesman and Director of Public Relations Office at Ministry of Health announced 2.4 million doses of vaccines have arrived in Iran. Dr. Kianoush Jahanpur stated 1.4million doses of AstraZeneca made in Italy entered Iran. He also mentioned another shipment of 1million doses without giving further details about the type or origin of it. Customs officials refused to offer any detail about the 1million dose too.
On the other hand, Ministry of Health released data on each imported COVID-19 vaccines being administered, 23 days after their last update. The vaccinations began on February 9, and so far only 0.41% of the population have been fully vaccinated.
Despite the Health Minister’s claim about the end of fourth wave of coronavirus in Iran, the manipulated and undercounted daily report of the Ministry indicate a significant increase in both COVID-19 deaths and cases from the day before, as seen on the graphs. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 303 died of the disease in the past 24 hours in Iran while 11,291 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The Ministry continues to hide the specifics about strains. Iran Medical Board authorities estimate the real deaths and cases are at least 3 times higher than the daily official reports.
R0: 3.55
Total: 2,751,166 (+11,291)
Dead: 76,936 (+303)
Recovered: 2,226,122
Critical: 5,337 (-59)
Active Cases: 448,108 (-4,283)
Tests: 18,018,878 (21.4% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Saeed Goli
