National Task Force Spokesman admits the fourth wave of coronavirus in Iran is not over yet and once again warns about spread of Indian variant of the virus in the country, especially in Bushehr, Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchetan, saying if compliance with protocols stays in the same range, fifth wave will emerge. Dr. Raisi said COVID-19 hospitalizations is still high across the country and 10-12% of them will die in the next 2 weeks. He claimed in the next 2 weeks the daily death toll will reach below 200! As reported before, the manipulation of Ministry of Health data continues as Islamic Republic “selections” approaches.
In the meantime, provincial officials report increasing number of coronavirus cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations. Hormozgan Medical University Spokesperson describes the situation as “ravaging.” Kermanshah officials say 30% of PCR tests turn positive in the province. Dr. Moradi, head of Kermanshah Medical University, expressed his concern over very slow decline in cases and increasing number of gatherings! Fars records another rise in cases and hospitalizations. Bushehr Governor, one of the provinces with confirmed cases of Indian variant, said the risk of spreading the new variant is high and borders with other provinces must be controlled!
Other than coronavirus, shortage of other medicines has overwhelmed the hospitals and healthcare workers. According to the Chairman of Iranian Human Drugs Industries Union, head of Islamic Republic Central Bank has lied about providing subsidized currency to drug importers! Mohammad Abdehzadeh says because of this, the medicines reserve is running out. Insulin shortage has been one of the main problems in the past 15 months, putting diabetics at more risk for coronavirus infection. Islamic Republic officials continue to deny the local reports.
On the other hand, COVID-19 patients who are being treated at home due to full hospitals are at risk of losing power and suffocation! According to Tavanir, Iran’s power company, widespread blackouts will continue for at least another month. The Spokesperson said the reasons for the shortage are out-of-control Bitcoin mining and increased usage. Alireza Vahabzadeh, advisor to the Health Minister, warned that COVID-19 patients at home using oxygen could die if the power is cut even for 1 minute.
The vaccination remains at the same slow pace. Since February 9 only 0.54% of population have been fully vaccinated. According to official data from Ministry of Health, 2,991,859 shots have been administered. Saeed Namaki, Health Minister, had promised the daily administered doses to reach 300,000 by today, but it remained in 61,000 shots per day.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 216 died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Iran while 8,631 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Sima Sadat Lari did not mention details of variants. Iran Medical Board officials estimate the real numbers of cases and deaths are at least 3 times higher than what is reported. The graphs show the waves of coronavirus in the past 15 months clearly.
R0: 3.37
Total: 2,832,518 (+8,631)
Dead: 78,597 (+216)
Recovered: 2,333,789
Critical: 4,855 (-90)
Active Cases: 420,132 (-5,628)
Tests: 18,932,896 (22.5% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mehr News
