Contradictory statements about the COVID-19 situation in Iran increases again. While Islamic Republic Health Minister contradicted himself about the sixth wave, now local officials are following his lead. West Azerbaijan’s health officials had announced increasing number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the province which had led to expansion of “red” zones, but today, head of the communications office at universities bases (!) reported less hospitalizations in the province!
Meanwhile, Islamic Republic officials claim the mass vaccination has helped preventing the next wave of COVID-19 in Iran. But according to the data published by the Ministry of Health, only 42,619,788 (50.73% of population) have received 2 doses of these vaccines since February 9. With the majority having the Chinese Sinopharm shot, 3 shots are required to reach “fully vaccinated” status, according to the WHO. A study conducted in Shiraz proved the Sinopharm to be ineffective against the Delta variant. Chairman of Tehran Corona Combating Committee emphasized that 90% vaccination coverage is needed to fight the novel coronavirus and reach “herd immunity”, a number that seems farther away by the day, considering the low turnouts at vaccination centers and the mistrust between the regime and people.
On the other hand, Tehran Governor sounds the alarm about Delta Plus entering the country through flights and open borders. He criticized the aviation industry for using 100% capacity of their flights and nobody heeding the possibility of another breakout by another variant.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 105 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 7,494 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Professor of Epidemiology at Tehran University believes these numbers must be multiplied by 7 and Civil Registration Organization data show more than 305,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 2.04
Total: 6,045,212 (+7,494)
Dead: 128,272 (+105)
Recovered: 5,708,253
Critical: 3,491 (-19)
Active Cases: 208,687 (-4,915)
Total Tests: 37,146,083
