Ministry of Health Spokesperson shocked Iranians today with the highest number of daily death toll in the past 8 months since COVID-19 epidemic began in Iran! 415 lost their lives to coronavirus in the past 24 hours, while 6,824 tested positive for the deadly virus. Sima Sadat Lari said “we are in a real war and the only solution is to change mindset of people and authorities.”
Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Health Minister, said the numbers will go higher in the next few weeks. He said only 42% of people follow the protocols and there’s been only 6% decrease in social traffic! Dr Zali, head of Corona Combating Committee in Tehran Metropolitan Area reported dreadful situation in Tehran hospitals. According to him, the number of admitted COVID-19 patients has never dropped below 6,000 during the past month! He said daily deaths broke records 9 times in Tehran during the same period.
Director of Tehran Crisis Management Organization admitted the fatality rate in Iran is higher than other countries, saying more than half of the daily death toll is from Tehran! He compared the total death toll in the past 8 months to the yearly death toll during Iran-Iraq war. He said, “We’ve lost 33,000 Iranian in 8 months while during the war we would lose 30,000 a year.” His comparison is not accurate. According to many officials, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Iran are anywhere between 2.2 to 4 times higher than the numbers announced by Ministry of Health.
Other provincial officials confirm the record breaking numbers in their hospitals. All gatherings have been barred in most provinces. However, like Tehran, the main problem remains supervising and enforcing those “protocols.” Saeed Namaki started complaining again, just like the past 8 months. He said there are two main issues: “Empty pockets and not having enough authority.” However, they both seemed to have been addressed!
After the backlash from a religious gathering in Mashhad, all officials condemned it and nobody took responsibility. But today, another gathering happened in Tehran, protesting Emmanuel Macron and his stance about Muhammad caricatures. Many Basijis gathered in front of French Embassy in Tehran on Neauphle le Château St. Neauphle le Château is a village in France where Khomeini took refuge for years before 1979 Islamic revolution. Basijis were demanding the name of the street to be changed to one of Muhammad’s nicknames. Surely, nobody is responsible for that either and all protocols were followed. Including but not limited to social distancing in crowded Tehran Metro and buses!
In the meantime, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced he tested positive for the novel coronavirus! He’s quarantined for now.
Active cases continue to rise and hospitals report full beds across the country. Critical cases have surpassed 5,000 and testing increased to about 35,000 a day, still one of the lowest in the world. According to Harirchi, there are plans to increase that number to 100,000 a day which would make early detection easy. After 8 months, this is the highlight of Ministry of Health and Islamic Republic regime. The officials had bragged about being self-sufficient in producing test-kits and even exporting them to Germany!
Basic Reproduction Rate (R0) increased another point. Graphs indicate the waves and how everything is out of control. Health experts warn the situation would get worse as the weather gets colder.
R0: 2.02
Total: 588,648 (+6,824)
Dead: 33,714 (+415)
Healed: 467,917
Critical: 5,012 (+17)
Admitted: 87,017 (+2,103)
Tests: 4,821,681 (6.2% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Erfan Khoshkhoo
