Secretary of Epidemiology Committee of the National COVID-19 Task Force expressed his concern over increasing number of cases in parts of Iran and admitted that the “next wave is inevitable!” Dr. Younesian confirmed the “declining of cases has slowed down” and in some areas spikes of cases are seen. He claimed in the next few weeks the daily death toll would come down to the double-digit territory, if the new wave does not arrive by then. He added the recent spikes may not be the sixth wave, yet!
When Younesian is hopeful about the current vaccination rate, the official data proves the opposite. The rate has slowed down and according to provincial officials, many refuse to take their first dose o show up for their second one. Dr. Abolnejadian of Ahvaz Medical University announced 21% receive their second dose with delay in Khuzestan and only 57% of eligible population has received 2 doses of these vaccines. Kerman officials reported 24% of the eligible in Kerman country refused to receive vaccines, while the province is experiencing another surge in COVID-19 cases. 27% in Fars remain unvaccinated, and 17% resist the shots in Kermanshah.
Ministry of Health claims since February 9, total of 101,492,535 shots have been administered in Iran, 44,294,652 (52.73% of population) have been jabbed twice and only 724,721(0.86% of population) have received 3 doses. While the world is moving towards 3-dose of reliable mRNA shots as standard for “full vaccination” status, the Islamic Republic has used the ineffective Sinopharm on 83% of cases which according to WHO, needs 3 doses to work!
Meanwhile, Chairman of Tehran Corona Combating Committee claims the capital has been going through stable COVID-19 situation in the past 7 weeks! But videos circulating on social media claiming to be from today, November 20, in Milad hospital in Tehran show a different story. However, Dr. Zali admits the current wave in EU and other countries must be an alarm for Iran as well and reiterated that the sixth wave is inevitable.
On the other hand, the Islamic Republic pushes forward with reopening all schools for mandatory in-person classes from November 22 across Iran. The regime President, after weeks of criticism and proofs that the nightly traffic ban is a futile plan, agreed to cancel it. However, the government managed to rip people off billions of dollars with this “traffic ban at night!”
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 118 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 3,539 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 308,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 1.93
Total: 6,073,098 (+3,539)
Dead: 128,852 (+118)
Recovered: 5,771,363
Critical: 3,416 (-15)
Active Cases: 172,883 (-8,564)
Total Tests: 37,673,877
Cover: Mahdi Marizad
