Delta variant spreads in Iran with the regime’s mismanagement
While Covid-19 has killed more than 235,000 people across Iran, the country has been hit by the fifth wave of the virus due to an outbreak of the Delta variant.
Delta, now present in at least 85 countries, is the most contagious of any Covid-19 variant yet identified.
Iran’s health ministry has classified as “red” – the highest category on Iran’s coronavirus risk scale – the capital, Tehran, and nine other cities in Tehran province.
According to a statement on Friday by the Health Ministry, “Based on the latest statistics we have 143 red zone cities, 186 orange and 119 yellow zones. There are no blue zone cities.”
The situation is deteriorating in many provinces such as Tehran, Isfahan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khorasan, Khuzestan and Kerman.
In this regard, the governor of South Khorasan said: 90% of the Delta variant tests in the province are positive, showing that the Delta variant has entered the province.
There has been a lot of criticism over the regime’s mismanagement in handling the rapid spread of Delta variant in Iran.
An ICU specialist made the following remarks to the regime’s Health Minister Saeed Namaki: You placed the entire Iranian population and the all the physicians in “disgrace and you must be prosecuted. You knew nothing about Covid-19 and do not know anything now, either. There is no other health minister in the world that, like Namaki, has not taken the time to ask the ICU personnel what is the reason behind so many coronavirus deaths,” according to a Thursday piece in the Khabar Fouri website.
Iran’s Health Ministry has put the fatalities at 85,090 but many health officials have noted that the real death toll is much higher. According to unofficial figures announced by the Paris-based NCRI opposition group, over 326,000 people have passed away in the country from COVID-19.
Slow vaccination and the regime’s mismanagement
“In March 2020, with quick instructions issued by the Supreme Leader to allocate one billion euros to the health apparatus. A large portion of this credit has yet to be provided,” said Health Minister Saied Namaki on Thursday, according to the state-run Aftab News website, after 15 months.
Speaking with the state-run ILNA news agency Mojtaba Yousefi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) from the city of Ahvaz in southwest Iran on July 6, “After 18 months still the government’s policies, especially those of the president that chairs the National Covid-19 Task Force, are not based on a certain pillar. With just one camera they go to two medical centers or show vaccines being injected, and then claim all is well. However, the truth in the streets is that many of our dear people are tired and disappointed, and there is no certain plan for the measures that are taken.”
“During the past two weeks we have seen a 24.4 percent rise in the number of people seeking initial medical care, and a 13.5 percent increase in the number of fatalities. The more we delay general vaccination, the more deaths we will see,” said Alireza Zali, head of the Tehran Covid-19 Task Force on July 6. “The small percentage that have been vaccinated has made controlling the illness extremely difficult. In our neighboring countries they have reached a significant percentage in vaccination, and we are left far behind. Our main concern should be vaccine production. Domestic vaccines do not provide for our needs, and their needs to be imports of vaccines,” he added, according to the Javan daily, an outlet linked to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
“To this day only 1.2 percent of the population has received two doses of the vaccine, whereas the global average is 17.2 percent. The elderly and those ill are waiting in lines and in poor hygiene conditions, leaving them even more vulnerable,” said Mostafa Moein, a former minister of sciences on Friday, according to the state-run Jamaran website.
As a result of Iran’s vaccine mismanagement, Iranians are going to neighboring countries for vaccination or buying the banned vaccines in black markets.
Although many countries have vaccinated over 60% of their population, regime officials are making the elderly wait in long lines for hours in the hot summer for their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
