Twenty-six Iranian provinces remain in a high state of alert, but despite warnings, authorities say a section of the Iranian population still disregards health protocols and refuses to wear masks in public, either because they cannot afford to buy one or because they are not taking the epidemic seriously. According to First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, the National Coronavirus Taskforce has decided to fine or punish these people. Offenders will be denied government services and can be suspended from their jobs for up to one year.
Over the last six months, government officials have consistently blamed the Iranian people for the transmission of coronavirus. But now Dr. Alireza Zali, director of the Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce, has said that this has been the wrong approach. “The strategic mistake in recent months following the coronavirus outbreak is to [blame] the people as the only factor when this is not true,” he said. “People have no other choice but to worry about their livelihoods, while the haste in reopening businesses can mislead people into thinking that the pandemic has gone dormant.”
During the Islamic lunar calendar month of Muharram, which this year starts on August 20, Shias mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, the third Shia Imam, killed in 680 AD, and hold ceremonies and processions on a large scale.
In a letter to the clergy, preachers and the public, Health Minister Saeed Namaki pointed out that harming others is prohibited in Islam and so asked Muharram mourners to avoid behaving in a way that would give the “enemies” an opportunity to blame them for any surge in coronavirus.
It appeared that an idea of “a mourning chapel in every home” for Muharram was being promoted to prevent crowds and the spread of coronavirus. Mohammad Qomi, the head of the Islamic Development Organization, reported that a system has been designed to register Shia eulogists so that households could request one to preach to them online.
While 26 Iranian provinces continue to battle the second wave of coronavirus and the number of infections and fatalities are rising in some places, President Rouhani claimed that infections are on a downward trend in some provinces. He warned that those who do not observe health protocols during Muharram will be punished, but then objected to criticism that nationwide university entrance exams were going ahead. “How do we walk in the street? How do we go to so many indoor spaces? How do we ride buses and the metro? Now we must say no to entrance exams?” Rouhani said.
Iran’s Educational Testing Organization announced health guidelines for the nationwide university entrance exams, due to start on August 19. The statement explains that the number of days the exams will take place over has been increased from two to four, and the number of organizers has been increased by 50 percent. Participants will find a health kit on their seats containing a mask, a disinfectant pad and health guidelines.
Kianoush Jahanpour, director of the health ministry’s public relations department, announced that it was not important whether a coronavirus vaccine is Russian or Chinese or European. What is important, he pointed out, is whether it has successfully passed all the necessary stages from a scientific perspective and been approved by international authorities. According to Jahanpour, based on the available information, the vaccine recently unveiled by Russia has passed the preliminary clinical trial.
From the week beginning August 17, the drug Remdesivir produced in Iran will be made available to hospitals. For the moment, however, it will not be distributed outside hospitals, reported Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, the head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration.
Provinces Round-up
Tehran remains in a critical situation and Tajrish Martyrs Hospital has run out of beds for Covid-19 patients. According to Dr. Reza Jalili Khoshnood, president of Tajrish Martyrs Hospital in Tehran, there are about 100 Covid-19 patients being treated in the hospital and the wards set aside for coronavirus patients have been filled to capacity. As of August 14, he said, 180 doctors, nurses and other health workers at the hospital had contracted coronavirus.
The number of coronavirus patients in Fars province is rising and currently 956 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized across the province, reported Abdolrasoul Hemmati, vice president of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. He said 106 of these patients are hospitalized in ICU wards and the total coronavirus official death toll in the province has reached 673.
Currently 489 patients with coronavirus symptoms are hospitalized in Alborz province, of whom 105 are in critical condition, reported Dr. Hasan Karim, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. According to him, in the 24 hours before Friday, August 14, 420 patients with coronavirus symptoms attended hospitals in the province and 58 of them were hospitalized. During the same 24 hours, 10 Covid-19 patients died, bringing the official death toll in Alborz to 838.
Every day an average of 100 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized in Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan province, reported Dr. Hamid Reza Rahimi, an official at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. He said Mashhad and Razavi Khorasan are still witnessing a crisis and will be in a red state of alert for some time.
The number of coronavirus infections in Hormozgan is declining, but the situation is still fragile, said Dr. Sima Sadat Lari, the health ministry’s spokeswoman. In the last, week two more cities in the province were classified as being in a state of red alert. According to Lari, currently five cities in the province are in a red state of alert and the Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa, which used to be the only “green” or safe zone in Iran is now in a “yellow,” or moderate, state of alert.
Claiming that coronavirus has mutated in the province of North Khorasan, Dr. Ahmad Hashemi, president of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, said the virus is now 20 times more virulent than it had been before. According to Dr. Hashemi, no ceremony held during Muharram can last longer than two hours and there is a ban on customary mourning processions.
Regardless, Ahmad Elmolhoda, Mashhad’s Friday Imam, declared that all government agencies were ready for Muharram ceremonies and “there is no excuse” to cancel them. He said holding the ceremonies in open spaces has actually more “splendor” than holding them indoors and if anybody refrained from mourning this year giving the excuse that it was too difficult he or she would “fail the test” in the court of faith.
According to the health ministry’s spokeswoman Dr. Lari, currently 15 provinces are in a red state of alert and 11 provinces are in an orange state:
- Red: Mazandaran, Tehran, Qom, Golestan, North Khorasan, Ardebil, Isfahan, Alborz, Razavi Khorasan, Kerman, Semnan, East Azerbaijan, Markazi, Yazd and Gilan
- Orange: Fars, Ilam, Lorestan, Hormozgan, Zanjan, Qazvin, West Azerbaijan, Bushehr, Hamedan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad
In her briefings for August 14 and August 15, Dr. Lari also announced official coronavirus statistics for the last 48 hours:
- New coronavirus cases: 4,764
- New hospitalizations: 2,116
- Total cases since the outbreak: 341,070
- Total coronavirus tests conducted in Iran: 2,836,252
- Total recovered from coronavirus: 295,630
- New fatalities: 330
- Total death toll since the outbreak: 19,492
This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology
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