91 weeks have passed since officials of Islamic Republic confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Iran. According to an official at the Ministry of Health, this week has seen declining cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the week before. Dr. Gooya, however, sounded the alarm for Ilam, Kerman, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Markazi, Yazd, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Semnan and South Khorasan provinces due to the spike in their cases and hospitalizations. During the 91st week of COVID-19 in Iran, Bushehr has held the top spot for the highest number of deaths per capita. Gooya confirmed that average vaccination rate in the country for 2 doses in 12-18 year old students is 56%.
All schools have reopened for mandatory in-person classes from today, however, according to Lorestan Medical University official, 74% of schools in the province are not equipped to run during the pandemic! Other areas of the country, such as Sistan-Baluchestan, Bushehr, Khuzestan, Ilam, Kurdistan,… are on the same boat.
On the other hand, Dr. Hosseini from Shiraz Medical University warned about coinfection of coronavirus and influenza, and emphasized its “risk is seriously high.” He blamed the low compliance with the protocols as the main culprit and said, “the consequences could be irreparable.”
Meanwhile, Tehran had its most polluted day of the year, exacerbating the COVID-19 situation in the capital. Officials warn that pollution could increase the risk of all respiratory infections including COVID-19 and would play a significant role in increasing the risk of death in patients.
The vaccination continues slowly. Since February 9, only 45,115,003 (53.70% of Iran population) have received 2 doses of these vaccines. Majority has been inoculated with Sinopharm which according to the WHO, requires 3 doses to be considered “fully vaccinated!” Islamic Republic has provided 3 doses to 803,290 (0.95% of population).
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 97 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 5,427 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 309,000 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: 6,082,865 (+5,427)
Dead: 129,053 (+97)
Recovered: 5,795,060
Critical: 3,393 (-16)
Active Cases: 158,752 (-6,305)
Total Tests: 37,887,368
Cover: Mina Noei
