While the rumors continue to flow into the news circle about Malekzadeh and Namaki and their drama, health experts and some officials criticize the way the “lockdown” plan is being enforced across the country. Dr Zali, head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee said, this is not lockdown, “there are some relative restrictions.” He confirmed our report that this plan has not caused any reduction in inner-city traffic in the capital. He also said, Tehran doesn’t look like a coronavirus-infested city at all. Zali added, to see if this plan is effective or not, it may take 4-5 weeks to see the results on death numbers and at least 2 weeks to reduce the number of admissions!
Head of Infectious Disease Ward in Loqman Hospital in Tehran rebuked the government for not enforcing a full lockdown, saying this is not a “comprehensive plan,” only apparel stores are closed and everybody is on the streets, “Is this lockdown?!” Dr Shervin Shokouhi said, “The situation is dire, especially in Tehran.” In response to a question about 4-figure death numbers in near future, he said it’s not too far fetched, even though, the daily deaths are already in the 4-digit territory but only the ones with positive PCR tests are included in the daily reports. Shokouhi continued, “the 9PM curfew is extremely useless. People can’t drive but there’s no restriction for ride sharing apps, which would make the spread of virus even worse!”
Head of Infectious Disease Ward in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran said all public hospitals are at full capacity and private hospitals would only admit the wealthy people who could afford scarce beds! Dr Emadi said, “the healthcare system is collapsing.”
Local reports confirm increasing number of indoor gatherings. Several grooms have been arrested for holding their weddings. There have been lines outside Governors and Mayors’ offices for people to pay to get permit to be able to use their cars during curfew! Another petri dish and another source of income for the struggling government.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson who expressed her support for Malekzadeh against rumors, presented her daily widely discredited numbers. Another jump in infections and deaths compared to yesterday. According to Sima Sadat Lari, 13,053 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the past 24 hours while 475 have died of the disease. The entire country remains critical.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) continues to spike while graphs clearly depict the rising number of active and critical cases on a daily basis. Testing remains in the same range of 40,500 a day while the positivity rate increased from 31.93% to 32.07% since yesterday.
R0: 3.62
Total: 854,361 (+13,053)
Dead: 44,802 (+475)
Recovered: 603,445
Critical: 5,796 (+18)
Admitted: 206,114 (+5,269)
Tests: 5,788,016 (6.9% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Leyla Sadat Aghili
