Corner to corner of Iran is grappling with COVID-19 and all records are being shattered on a daily basis. According to Ministry of Health Spokesperson, 8,932 new cases tested positive for the novel coronavirus and 422 passed away from the disease. That’s the highest number of cases since the epidemic began in February 2020. Sima Sadat Lari still announced Fars among the 4 “alarming” provinces while provincial officials have reported it as “red.” All 31 provinces are critical, however. Sadat Lari added, insufficient ventilation indoors during winter could worsen the situation and asked everybody to refrain from attending any gathering.
Dr Zali, head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee, said there’s no expectation of decreasing cases or deaths in the next 2-3 weeks! He said there are currently 1,702 critical patients in ICUs across Tehran hospitals and 6,337 in other wards. That number of admitted patients is a record for the capital. Zali also complained about the inner-city traffic not changed that much. He also asked Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry and IRIB to suspend all productions across Tehran. Mohsen Hashemi, Chairman of Tehran City Council, said if nothing is done about inner-city traffic, there will be a human catastrophe in the next 2-3 weeks.
Deputy Head of Tehran Corona Combating Committee in Scientific Affairs admitted the main problem in hospitals is shortage of ICU beds and healthcare staff! Dr Tavakoli said 17-20% of staff are on sick leave at every given time and that has caused problems for other parts of the service. He said the low number of tests in the country has become a major hurdle in “contact tracing” plan. A plan which the officials thought of implementing after almost 9 months of struggling with coronavirus. Tavakoli added the number of cases and deaths could be as many as twice what’s reported daily, because they don’t include clinically diagnosed patients. Dr Zafarghandi, head of Iran Medical Council, has estimated the real number of deaths is “at least 3 times” what’s reported.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) rose to 2.13, the highest since April, and the graphs indicate the ever growing number of active cases. The jump in active cases over 24 hours also sets a new record! Growth factors have never reached 1, meaning the COVID-19 crisis in Iran has never slowed down for about 9 months. Testing remains in the 35,000 range, and despite lower testing compared to yesterday, the number of cases set a new record today.
R0: 2.13
Total: 637,712 (+8,932)
Dead: 36,160 (+422)
Recovered: 495,473
Critical: 5,315 (+71)
Admitted: 106,079 (+4,284)
Tests: 5,036,633 (6.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
