COVID-19 continues taking the lives of hundreds every day in Iran, Ministry of Health’s coloring map shows more “red” areas in every update, local and national officials reiterate health experts’ opinion that the sixth wave has begun, but Islamic Republic Health Minister who had said “the sixth wave is definitely coming in November,” says: “I don’t see any sign of the sixth wave yet!” Therefore, the National COVID-19 Task Force announced that all high schools will start mandatory in-person classes from Saturday, November 6. In the new guidelines, other schools, including elementary ones, will resume their normal activities from November 22.
Health experts, however, have been warning against the premature reopening of schools and universities while the infection rate remains high in the country. Qazvin reports increasing infections, Khuzestan officials warn about the uptick of the coronavirus in the province. Fars‘ daily death toll remains in the double digits with more than 190 hospitalizations in 1 day. And Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari joins the list of provinces with “red” cities.
According to officials, only about 30% of students 12-17 have received 2 doses of the ineffective and unapproved Sinopharm. While the Islamic Republic “Supreme Leader” has banned the US and UK made vaccines, the kids above 5 have no other option to use. An official at the Ministry of Health said the vaccination of kids 5-11 has been canceled “for now”, prompting the Ministry to issue a denial statement saying, “we’re still investigating the options!”
The Health Minister, once again, bragged about the “high vaccination rate” among the population, and breaking the daily administration record! However, according to their own data, since February 9, only 37,127,998 (44.19% of Iran population) have received 2 doses of these vaccines. Majority of whom have been inoculated with the Chinese Sinopharm, which WHO recognizes 3 doses of it as “fully vaccinated!”
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 158 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 9,862 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 304,000 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: 5,964,824 (+9,862)
Dead: 126,921 (+158)
Recovered: 5,560,951
Critical: 3,756 (-33)
Active Cases: 276,952 (-3,898)
Total Tests: 35,946,879
Cover: Seyed Khalil Mousavi
