Hospitals are at full capacity, and this is a message broadcasted on national TV, trying to intimidate people into following protocols. However, it looks like it’s a bit too late and ineffective to go back on all the normalization the government has done in the past 8 months! Additionally, people are getting poorer every day with national currency value on a deep dive and unemployment on the rise. Rouhani had said, “We shouldn’t choose between health and economy, we could have both.” These days are proof that he was wrong and going against health experts didn’t help the situation!
Hospitals are asking people not to go to hospitals since there are people waiting in ERs for a bed to become available. The travel ban is in effect but it’s not enforced properly. The long weekend has started, Saturday is “Imam Reza’s death” anniversary, which means mourning ceremonies and gatherings. Even if all protocols are followed at the gathering, the people who got there had to use public transportation, increasing the risk of spread.
Sari, capital of Mazandaran, which is in critical COVID-19 condition, was the host of another gathering. A funeral for “martyrs” of IRGC Quds force who were killed in Syria 4.5 years ago and recently were found. Crowd is noticeable from children to elderly, all at high risk of infection and death by coronavirus. It’s duplicitous behaviors like this that have made people not trust a word regime officials tell people! It looks like following protocols are only for ordinary citizens.
Tehran Governor announced extension of Tehran lockdown for another week. But it’s not enforced well and all businesses are open serving all customers regardless if they wear masks or not, which according to the new rule, they all should have been fined! The Governor said “remote working” would be available from next week, the details yet to be released. Although, tomorrow and Saturday the government will be in another hiatus!
While officials keep blaming US sanctions for shortage of medicine in the country, Iraq intelligence agents have confiscated 19 trucks full of Iranian medicine being smuggled to Iraq. According to their report, it’s the biggest bust they’ve ever made worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Considering the power landscape in Iran, without a doubt the trucks belonged to somebody higher up in IRGC. Flu vaccine, insulin and remdesivir are only available in the black market at a hefty price!
COVID-19 cases have been increasing on a steep uptrend and nothing seems able to stop it. Islamic Republic is drowning in its own wrongdoings for 8 months since the epidemic started in Iran. Critical cases increase, making all ICU beds across the country unavailable. According to Ministry of Health Spokesperson, 4,616 new cases and 256 deaths have been confirmed by PCR tests in the past 24 hours. The entire country, except for Sistan-Baluchestan province, is critical, but of course, there’s no truth in the stats provided by the officials.
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) and graphs indicate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in Iran and predicting worse days are yet to come. Testing remains in the same range.
R0: 1.77
Total: 517,835 (+4,616)
Dead: 29,605 (+256)
Healed: 418,054
Critical: 4,671 (+62)
Admitted: 70,176 (+1,137)
Tests: 4,426,779 (6.1% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Fatemeh Kavakebian
