“Black fungus” arrived in Tehran. Dr. Masoud Mardani, a member of the National Task Force, reported a “few cases of black fungus” in Tehran hospitals. While Indian officials warned about the infection weeks ago, happening in COVID-19 patients, Mardani said the reason is self-injection of steroids such as dexamethasone. He asked physicians not to over-prescribe steroids to COVID-19 patients in Iran. Previously, Tehran Corona Combating Committee members had hinted that Indian & South African variants have reached the capital, but it has not been officially confirmed. The Ministry of Health refuses to provide accurate data on specific strains, too. According to health experts, black fungus, or mucormycosis, is rare but could be fatal. In India, as of May 21, 8,848 cases of it were found.
In the meantime, head of Shahr-e-Kord Medical University warned that inter-provincial traveling would cause new variants, Indian and South African which were found in some provinces, to spread to other provinces. Dr. Shirani sounded the alarm for the upcoming holidays and gatherings during “elections” season. He confirmed the fourth wave of coronavirus is not over yet and the situation is very fragile. Dr. Aghazade, Chairman of Iran Supreme Medical Council, reiterated the danger of “elections” gatherings and warned that the chance for a fifth wave is very high. He added if it happens, it would be even worse than the fourth wave, which is still ongoing.
Head of Hormozgan Medical University reported a record breaking number for their COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past 16 months! Dr. Farshidi said, 3 days ago, 700 tested positive for the novel coronavirus in 24 hours. He added, compared to last year, the number of daily cases has multiplied by 10! He confirmed the uptrend that began with the fourth wave is still ongoing in his province and warned Hormozgan should not become the “gateway for the fifth wave across the country.”
Despite Ministry of Heath warnings and confirmation of several positive coronavirus cases entering Iran from Iraq, Khamenei’s representative in Haj and Pilgrims Organization asked the National Task Force to revise their decision to ban traveling to “holy shrines” in Iraq! Abdulfattah Navab said since some people are vaccinated, pilgrimage rituals will “raise their spirits!” According to him, Arbain (Arbaeen) mourning ceremonies may resume this year after they were canceled last year due to the pandemic.
COVID-19 Vaccination Chaos
Meanwhile, vaccination chaos continues. Dr. Ghanei, head of Scientific Subcommittee at the National Task Force, laid out a bunch of fictional and highly optimistic numbers (14.6million doses from COVAX, 3million doses of COVIran Barekat by June 22, 1 million doses of Cuban vaccine by July 21,…) and concluded that if everything goes according to his wishful thinking, all adult Iranians will be vaccinated by November-December 2021, by administering 500,000 doses a day! Even if 500,000 doses a day is achievable by the Islamic Republic, it would take more than 8 months to fully vaccinate 60million adults! Previously, National Task Force Spokesman and other officials promised to reach that goal by March 22, 2022.
Ghanei warned that widespread blackouts impact on the cold chain storage needed for vaccines and the production line. He said if production is interrupted, the whole batch would be useless. He admitted the blackouts would increase the cost of manufacturing vaccines in Iran.
According to Ministry of Health, since February 9, only 485,670 (0.57% of population) have been fully vaccinated and total of 3,330,309 shots administered. Instead of healthcare workers and other important priorities, Martyr Foundation announced spouses of veterans with 70% disability will receive shots from next week. Teachers are to be vaccinated in August, according to Ministry of Health Spokesperson!
As Islamic Republic’s sham “elections” approaches, the manipulation of daily reports intensifies. Sima Sadat Lari claimed 163 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours in Iran and 10,468 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. As usual, the Spokesperson did not provide any details about specific variants. Iran Medical Board officials estimate the real numbers are at least 3 times higher than what is reported daily. As graphs show, the fourth wave of coronavirus continues to ravage the country, and daily PCR tests continue to decrease day by day.
R0: 3.34
Total: 2,865,864 (+10,468)
Dead: 79,219 (+163)
Recovered: 2,379,139
Critical: 4,587 (-108)
Active Cases: 407,506 (-6,406)
Tests: 19,307,544 (22.9% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Hassan Zarifmanesh
