The Islamic Republic Ministry of Health updated the list of COVID-19 “high risk” areas. It includes cities from Kermanshah, Fars, Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan. The number of “red” counties has increased by 2 to 9. In the meantime, following Fars, Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Mazandaran, Gilan and Lorestan sound the alarm for the sixth wave of coronavirus in Iran.
Although Islamic Republic Health Minister admits the sixth wave is in the making, he claims he is “not worried about it since the vaccination has been expansive!” However, Sinopharm, the major vaccine used in the country, is ineffective against Delta and WHO just announced its booster is required for 60+. Eynollahi is also adamant to reopen schools, even though only about 35% of students 12-17 have been fully vaccinated with the unproven Sinopharm for this age group. He also insists on launching the “smart quarantine” program, while only 22,816,536 (27.16% of Iran population) have received both doses of these vaccines.
On the other hand, health experts warn against premature reopenings. Dr. Naji, head of Beheshti University Virology Center says the novel coronavirus is still highly present in the society and infection rate remains high. He believes the “smart quarantine” becomes an option when less than 5,000 cases a day are identified, not more than 12,000! Naji warns any haste in reopening of schools and businesses could accelerate another breakout. Contrary to what Ebrahim Raisi, Islamic Republic President claimed yesterday about “controlling COVID-19,” Dr. Naji said Delta variant needs at least 80-90% fully vaccinated population in order to reach “herd immunity!” He also rebuked the government for its “fining” policies and asked that officials talk to the people and convince them to follow the protocols and vaccinate!
COVID-19 seems to have caused Tuberculosis to be overlooked. WHO warned about rising TB cases in some countries due to COVID-19. At the same time, head of TB Control Center in the Ministry of Health in Iran confirmed TB has been overlooked in the past 2 years and 28% less cases have been identified compared to pre-COVID times. Dr. Nasehi warned that next year TB cases will increase. She warned that the quiet disease could infect as many as 10-12 people in a year if it is not identified as soon as possible.
The Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 197 have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 11,857 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 294,000 have died of the disease since February 2020. Graphs illustrate the ongoing crisis in Iran and forming of the new wave.
R0: 2.10
Total: 5,765,904 (+11,857)
Dead: 123,695 (+197)
Recovered: 5,294,981
Critical: 4,924 (-59)
Active Cases: 347,228 (-2,697)
Total Tests: 33,787,952
Cover: Vahid Khademi
