According to Civil Registration Organization, in the summer of 2020, there have been 131,294 deaths in Iran, which is about 40,000 more than summer of 2019 and 2018! According to Islamic Republic Ministry of Health, 14,736 have died of COVID-19 in the summer of 2020. With other causes of deaths staying at the same rate (even though car crash deaths have decreased according to officials), it’s safe to assume the novel coronavirus infection has been the cause of death for the 40,000, almost 3 times what the Ministry had announced.
The stats by the Ministry have been challenged many times, and even officials have repeatedly admitted the numbers could be multiple folds higher. Their main excuse being the Ministry has to only report the ones who have tested positive for coronavirus. The cases who have been diagnosed clinically, by CT scan, are not counted towards the statistics reported. However, that doesn’t stop Sima Sadat Lari from announcing the “daily” numbers. According to her, 406 died of COVID-19 and 8,872 tested positive in the past 24 hours.
The entire country remains critical. Even though Fars broke its death record again, it’s still considered as “alarming” in Ministry’s records. Fars officials reported 41 lost lives in one day, and announced the province as “red” and critical. Fars is in a dreadful condition. Kerman, Lorestan, North Khorasan,… have broken their daily records as well.
Hospitals’ overwhelming situation continues, especially with about 30% of nurses being out sick! According to officials, not enough is being done to hire new staff and that has been taking its toll on working staff. Critical cases keep rising while hospitals can’t serve enough oxygen to patients, and not enough beds are available.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) continues to rise, indicative of fast spreading coronavirus with nothing to stop it. Islamic Republic has missed its golden period to contain the virus by making wrong or no decision at every turn. Holding religious gatherings during Ramadan, Muharram, Arbain,… are just some of those occasions. On the other hand, the current lockdown measures are not enforced properly, and while officials keep blaming people, they can’t afford to stay at home with no support from the government.
Active cases are on a steep upward trend even though testing remains one of the lowest per capita in the world.
R0: 2.18
Total: 654,936 (+8,772)
Dead: 36,985 (+406)
Recovered: 505,287
Critical: 5,472 (+46)
Admitted: 112,664 (+3,479)
Tests: 5,110,752 (6.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Majid Khahi
