November 1:
Iran Hits New Record High for Covid-19 Deaths
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread more rapidly in Iran, many health officials have started being more direct, mincing their words less and less. They say that hospitals are running out, or have already run out, of beds. Several have said official statistics should be doubled or even quadrupled to arrive at the actual numbers. Quarantines and lockdowns have been imposed in 25 provinces and 89 cities and counties but coronavirus appears to be one step ahead of Iranian officials.
In the last two months Mohsen Hashemi, president of Tehran City Council, has repeatedly called for a two-week total lockdown of the nation’s capital. “We must take the necessary decisions before coronavirus does its work; we must not walk behind coronavirus and allow it to do whatever it wants,” he said at a city council meeting on Sunday, November 1. Hashemi said the third wave of coronavirus, which started over a month ago, has picked up speed and if nothing is done to contain the spread of the virus it might lead to “a tsunami of death” in the coming month.
On the same day, the Tehran Safety Committee for the city council and Parliament’s Health Committee presented a proposal for lockdown to the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Security Committee. If the proposal is approved and implemented, all private and government offices, except emergency services, will be closed for two weeks and restrictions on traffic and movement within the city will be imposed as well.
Coronavirus is going to be with us for a further year, predicted First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi. “Weddings are slaughterhouses and holding mourning ceremonies for the dead is totally meaningless” in these conditions, he said. “Singing and shouting increases the possibility of transmission by 50 percent.”
Over the last week, many provincial officials have also warned against holding wedding and mourning ceremonies, and prosecutors in various cities have stated they will not tolerate these ceremonies and people ignoring the rules will face punishment. There have been reports that at least one groom and a number of wedding organizers have been arrested.
With the increase in the number of coronavirus fatalities, the number of mourning ceremonies has increased considerably. According to Yahya Eydi, Kermanshah’s deputy mayor, every day an average of 100 people go to the city’s cemetery to participate in burial ceremonies. “We have allocated a maximum of one hour to the burial of the deceased,” he said. “We try to arrange burial ceremonies in a way so it will not lead to crowds gathering and we ask people who come to the cemetery to respect this one-hour limit to prevent any problems.”
In Mashhad, Mohammad Reza Hashemi, the city’s governor, announced that “all gatherings and ceremonies” were forbidden.
The new “Operations Base” of the National Coronavirus Taskforce, which was established by the order of Ayatollah Khamenei to supervise and implement decisions the taskforce makes, has yet to take any significant action, but it is predicted that it will turn the fight against coronavirus into more of a security operation, including enforcing harsh restrictions and lockdowns.
So far neither the police or members of the public have been taking the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s decisions very seriously. On October 31, Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced that the judiciary had a duty to cooperate with the taskforce. “The decisions by this taskforce must have executive guarantee because without such guarantees we will not get results,” he said.
Provinces Round-up
In the 24-hour period spanning October 31 and November 1, 14 further coronavirus patients died in Alborz, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,711, according to Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. He said that during the same 24 hours 102 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were admitted to the hospitals and as of November 1, 869 people with confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus were hospitalized across the province.
Prior to this, provincial officials had presented the Ministry of Interior with a proposal to declare Thursdays a day off to help control the rate of infections, but they have yet to receive an answer.
As of November 1, the number of hospitalizations in Yazd province stood at 959, setting a new record. On that date,173 coronavirus patients in critical condition were in intensive care units (ICUs), reported Ebrahim Salmani, spokesman for Yazd University of Medical Sciences, who also reported that 104 patients suspected of Covid-19 were waiting to be admitted to emergency wards at the hospitals. He pleaded with the people of Yazd to not leave home unless necessary and to not gather in crowds.
Between October 28 and November 1, 37 patients in the city of Koohdasht in the province of Lorestan tested positive for Covid-19, reported Mashallah Nemati, the city’s governor, who ordered businesses in Koohdasht to close down.
In Tehran, the municipality ordered sports centers to close for 10 days, starting on Wednesday, November 4.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 1, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 2:
Will the Coronavirus “Fiasco” in Tehran Turn into a “Catastrophe”?
With the coronavirus crisis rapidly worsening in Iranian provinces and cities, terms such as “red alert,” “black,” “explosive,” “critical,” “beyond critical” and “coronavirus tsunami” are no longer sufficient to describe the situation.
On November 2, Dr. Minoo Moharez from the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee used the word “fiasco” to describe the situation in Tehran. She said the nation’s capital must be locked down as soon as possible. Otherwise, she said, “we will have a catastrophe. May God have mercy on us. We have so many coronavirus patients, so many cases, so many patients in a critical condition, and so many problems. Now imagine we add traveling and public gatherings to all this. We must close down Tehran as fast as we can. On weekends and holidays we must close the roads to prevent people from traveling.”
Dr. Moharez pointed out that lockdowns had been announced on Monday of the previous week but, in reality, everything remained open.
Some officials have suggested that martial law or something similar should be declared in Iran. When asked about this suggestion, Dr. Minoo Moharez said: “there is no way that martial law would work for this situation. How would martial law work? People must stay home at night? What about during the day?”
Moharez stated again that traffic must be reduced, and that offices, schools, universities and sports clubs must close, as should restaurants, which she described as being “among the most dangerous places in terms of transmitting the virus.” She added: “The only places that should remain open are those that provide the people with basic necessities, like supermarkets.”
Traffic restrictions in 25 cities started midday on Monday, November 2. However, considering authorities’ failure to enforce previous measures approved by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, it remains to be seen whether the new restrictions can be enforced effectively. A fine of 500,000 tomans ($120) has been set for people who violate these traffic restrictions, though it is not clear whether people will actually be forced to pay fines or, as has happened in the past, authorities will continue to issue empty threats.
Many experts say that what Iran needs to stop the spread of coronavirus is a total quarantine, but proposals for a two-week lockdown of some cities continue to gather dust on the desks of the Coronavirus National Taskforce. Iranian government officials are not yet ready to put public health before the economy.
Tehran City Council has proposed a two-week lockdown several times but, in the past eight months, the taskforce has not agreed with any proposal to quarantine or lockdown any city or province.
In recent days, following the judiciary announcement that it would step in to enforce coronavirus restrictions, many businesses and employees have been summoned to courts for violating health protocols set out by the National Coronavirus Taskforce. At the same time, efforts to prevent wedding and mourning ceremonies continue across Iran and there have been reports that several grooms and organizers of these ceremonies have been arrested.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki claimed, once again, that Iran is making progress in its development of a coronavirus vaccine. “Out of 12 groups in Iran that have been working to develop a coronavirus vaccine three have had some success and at least two have concluded animal testing and will start testing on humans in the coming weeks,” he said, and reported that “a national coronavirus vaccine committee has been formed and we will inform the public of research results.”
Provinces Round-up
It is not only Tehran that needs a total lockdown. In a letter to Anayatollah Rahimi, governor of Fars province, 200 members of the faculty of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences called for “an immediate quarantine for at least two weeks and a total ban on traveling” in the province.
They also reported that all hospitals in Fars have been filled to capacity, while the number of cases and fatalities continue to rise and the hospitals have been forced to delay the admission of new coronavirus patients because there are no beds left.
According to the latest reports, in the 24-hour period spanning November 1 and November 2, 34 coronavirus patients died in Fars. As of November 2, 1,470 Covid-19 patients had died in the province and, in the last 24 hours alone, 2,100 new patients have tested positive. This number is noteworthy because the health ministry claims that in the last 24 hours less than 8,300 new cases have been identified across the whole country.
On the morning of November 3, Mehdi Sa’adati, chairman of the caucus of representatives from Mazandaran province, reported that the National Coronavirus Taskforce and the Ministry of Interior had agreed to ban travel to the province. Just before the ban took effect, however, many people had begun their journeys to Mazandaran and, as a result, chaos ensued on the roads leading to the province.
Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences, said the last 24 hours was the worst day for Alborz province since the coronavirus outbreak. During this period, 32 Covid-19 patients died, raising the total death toll in the province to 1,748. According to Dr. Fathi, 162 new patients with coronavirus symptoms were hospitalized, bringing the total number of current hospitalizations to 905.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 2, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 9:
Call for Lockdown in Iranian Cities Gains Momentum
With 10,463 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 485 fatalities in the 24-hour period spanning November 8 and November 9, Iran hit yet another record. As the surge of coronavirus continued seemingly relentlessly, a range of officials, especially in Tehran, have accused the government of lacking the will to take necessary actions to stem the tide of the pandemic. Some say the previous measures enacted by the National Coronavirus Taskforce have proved to be “ineffective” and others insist that if the current trend continues, Tehran could face the “horrible prospect of a thousand fatalities per day.” Despite this, a serious lockdown has still not been put on the agenda, and a member of the parliament called the partial curfew due to take effect on November 10 “a joke.”
The Emergency Bill to Lock Down Tehran and Other Big Cities
Hossein Ali Shahriari, chairman of the parliament’s Health Committee, has called for at least a two-week lockdown of Tehran and other big cities. If this did not happen, he said, the committee would call for an emergency bill to “require the government” to implement such a lockdown.
Shahriari also called the lockdown of non-essential businesses from 6pm “a joke” and said “such restrictions will change nothing in big cities, especially not in Tehran.” He added: “With this approach we cannot hope to see the fatalities decline. We hope the government’s National Coronavirus Taskforce will step up gear a little bit.”
Shahriari emphasized that the taskforce is a “government” entity, not a “national” one because it does whatever the government wants it to do. The taskforce is not representative of the Iranian people.
Nader Tavakoli, deputy director of the Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce, agreed that a two-week lockdown of Tehran would be effective in containing the spread of coronavirus and said that such a proposal had been forwarded by Tehran’s taskforce to the national one and it was due to be discussed “early next week,” adding: “We are very hopeful that a two-week lockdown of Tehran will be implemented [by late November] because it will be very helpful,” he said.
If approved by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, traffic in Tehran would be banned after 9pm, reported Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province. “This proposal has been reviewed by the National Coronavirus Taskforce and it is up to the commander of the taskforce’s Base of Operation, i.e., the minister of interior, when it is to start.”
On November 8, Dr. Minoo Moharez, a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce, said that President Rouhani had agreed to a lockdown of Tehran, but that the provincial governor is against it. The media was quick to publish this claim and it was shared widely on social media, but on November 9, Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, denied the news. “A colleague of ours has said that the president has agreed with a two-week lockdown but the governor [of Tehran province] is against it,” he said. “This is not true. Proposals are reviewed and decided at the national taskforce meetings, which are chaired by the president. If the national taskforce issues an order it must be carried out. So it is not true that the president is supportive of a two-week lockdown of Tehran and the governor is against it.”
According to a decision approved by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, all non-essential businesses must close at 6pm starting on Tuesday, November 10. The curfew will last for a month and does not include food shops and pharmacies.
Provinces Round-up
With 57 deaths, the daily number of Covid-19 fatalities in Fars province hit a record over the last 24 hours, reported Dr. Abdolrasoul Hemmati, vice president of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. It was the worst day for the province since the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran. The number of hospitalizations across the province has now passed 1,700, out of whom 250 people are in a critical condition.
In Alborz province, in the last 24 hours, 14 more coronavirus patients died, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,902, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. In the same 24 hours, he said, 105 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were hospitalized in the province. Currently, 893 people with a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus or suspected of having coronavirus are hospitalized in Alborz.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 9, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 10:
An Iranian Dies from Covid-19 Every Three Minutes
On Monday, November 9, the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced it has developed a Covid-19 vaccine proven to be 90 percent effective in trials. The announcement was widely reported around the world, bringing hope into what has been a dismal year for many. However, the situation in Iran is very different from many other countries. The daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Iran has exceeded 10,000, but just between 35,000 and 40,000 tests are conducted across the country each day. This means that at least 25 percent of people who have been tested are infected with coronavirus.
On November 10, health minister Saeed Namaki said it was necessary for 10,000 tests to be carried out per day, but the government’s recent record in fulfilling its promises made it highly questionable that that number would be reached any time soon.
According to official statistics announced by the health ministry, as of November 10, every three minutes one Iranian person dies from Covid-19 — and this is just the official figure. For the last several days, the number of coronavirus fatalities has not dipped below 400 per day. Nevertheless, the government is still trying out strategies of introducing limited restrictions in populous cities and has refused to accept the necessity of imposing drastic quarantines.
New Restrictions and Curfews Begin
According to a measure approved by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, starting at 18:00 hours on Tuesday, November 10, all non-essential businesses and services will shut down in Tehran and other populous cities. Also, a traffic curfew will be in effect from 9pm to 4am. These restrictions will are to remain in place for a month.
Previous decisions by the taskforce have not made much of a dent in the spread of coronavirus in Iran. On the contrary, the virus has been spreading faster and further than ever before. Nevertheless, the government is going ahead with the new restrictions despite widespread criticisms of their inadequacy.
On Monday, November 9, Hossein Ali Shahriari, chairman of the parliament’s Health Committee, compared the new restrictions to “a joke” and said that if the government refuses to impose quarantines and lockdowns then the parliament has to get into the act. Today, in a letter to President Rouhani, Shahriari asked him for a complete lockdown of Tehran and other big cities “for 15 to 30 day” to contain the number of hospitalizations and to give the health workers and the medical staff time to recover from exhaustion.
“The situation with coronavirus has never been as horrid as it is now,” said Dr. Minoo Moharez, member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee. “Patients are lining up for empty beds in the hospitals and this situation cannot be ignored.” She said that when the situation is so bad the only way is to lock down wherever the rate of infections is high and this is what they do everywhere in the world.
Provinces Round-up
In Isfahan province the number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus symptoms has now exceeded 2,000 and, according to the officials of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, the health system in the province is “on the verge of breakdown”. Kamal Heydari, vice president of the university, asked the people and charities to help pay for “respirators coronavirus patients who can be sent home” so that more beds would be available in the hospitals for patients in a critical condition.
In the last 24 hours in Alborz province coronavirus claimed the lives of 18 more patients, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. During the same 24 hours, 120 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the province, bringing to total of confirmed or suspect coronavirus hospitalizations in Alborz to 908.
Following the guidelines issued by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, officials in Mazandaran province enforced restrictions on non-essential businesses and services and curfews on traffic across the province. According to a provincial officials, these restricts are imposed on all the 58 cities in Mazandaran because these cities are close to each other and people in cities with restrictions might be tempted to travel to cities without restrictions.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 10, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 11:
Shopkeepers Defy New Rules as Experts Call for Total Lockdown
The curfew on non-essential businesses and services went into effect in many Iranian cities and provinces at 6pm on Tuesday, November 10. The National Coronavirus Taskforce and President Rouhani both announced that these new restrictions would greatly affect the number of coronavirus infections. Health minister Saeed Namaki has predicted that the number of coronavirus fatalities will fall by 15 percent within a month. Nevertheless, many health officials have criticized the new measures as inadequate and believe that a two-week total lockdown is necessary to reduce infections and fatalities and to give medical staff time to recover from exhaustion.
Not a Very Promising Start
The restrictions and curfews are to last for a month, until December 10. But the first day was not exactly promising. Media have reported that in various cities covered by the restriction, many shop owners, especially fast food shops, sandwich shops and restaurants, have expressed frustration with the rule that they have to close their shops at 6pm. In fact, reports also said local governments in these cities had to force some shops to close, but that some businesses managed to remain secretly open until 9pm.
Dr. Minoo Moharez, a member of the National Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, said that closing markets and public places at 6pm was not enough, not least because, she said, these public places “advertise on social networks that they are open and invite people to go there during morning hours,” which means that it becomes crowded at those times, and the virus is simply transmitted in the morning instead of in the evening.
Closing non-essential businesses after 6pm for a month “will contribute to a fall in the number of infections and hospitalizations but, considering the severe surge of the epidemic in our country, cautious measures can no longer work,” said Masoud Mardani, an infectious diseases specialist and member of the National Taskforce’s Scientific Committee.
Following the new orders approved by the National Coronavirus Taskforce, Tehran’s public transport system has also shortened its service hours. Starting on November 10, metro lines within Tehran’s city limits run only until 8:30 pm. Similar restrictions have also been placed on bus lines.
The measures have been brought in to fight the spread of coronavirus, but people who took the metro on the evening of November 10 said the size of the crowds was unprecedented.
Manaf Hashemi, deputy director of Tehran Municipality’s Transportation Department, denied that the municipality had anything to do with setting the hours of service for the city’s public transport. “It is the National Coronavirus Taskforce that has ordered the municipal governments of the big cities to reduce the hours,” he said. “Whether this decision has been approved by experts or not is a question for the taskforce.”
Military Support for Two-week Lockdown
A number of senior health ministry officials continue to insist that a two-week lockdown is necessary to control the spread of the virus. First deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said the later effective measures were taken, the longer the epidemic would last and the bigger the country’s economic problems would become. “As long as coronavirus is at its peak, small measures get us nowhere,” he said. “A complete lockdown for two weeks is absolutely necessary. Members of the National Coronavirus Taskforce and the armed forces are of the same opinion.”
Dr. Moharez agreed. She said it was her opinion and “the opinion of the experts, including presidents of all medical science universities” that it is necessary for Tehran to be locked down “for two weeks or at least one week," as should all cities in a similar situation. She added that the heads of the medical universities had written to the health minister about the matter. “Afterwards, we can evaluate the situation and decide the next steps,” Minoo said, “so that we can reduce congestion at the hospitals that have really run out of space and are in a critical condition.”
Updates from Kerman and Kermanshah
In the 24-hour period spanning November 10 and November 11, another 13 Covid-19 patients died in the province of Kermanshah, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,009, reported Mehdi Mohammadi, head of the coronavirus information office at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. During the same period, the total number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the province reached 1,226, with the addition of 263 new patients.
In Kerman province in the last 24 hours, the daily number of Covid-19 fatalities was 33, breaking a record for the province since the coronavirus outbreak. The total death toll in the province has now reached 1,413. According to Mehdi Shafiei, spokesman for Kerman University of Medical Sciences, as of November 11, 727 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the province.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 11, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 12:
Official Coronavirus Death Toll in Iran Passes 40,000
On Thursday, November 12, the official figure for coronavirus fatalities in Iran exceeded 40,000. On November 10, the nighttime lockdown of non-essential businesses and services and limited curfew of traffic in many big cities, including Tehran, got underway. These restrictions are to last for a month and, as of November 12, it was not clear what effect they would have on the chain of transmission. Government officials say that the country had to be patient, and that after the restrictions were in place for a period of time, an assessment could be made as to how effective they were. At that point, a decision could be made about extensive and strict lockdowns.
But not everybody agrees that Iran has time to spare. “The businesses are open in the mornings, metro and bus lines are busy as well and this means that the virus is being transmitted,” said Dr. Minoo Moharez, a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee. “If we cannot impose a two-week lockdown then we must have at least a one-week lockdown so that the situation gets better. But now that the government has decided to close businesses from 6pm, we will wait to see the results in the next couple of days. If it proves to be effective then so much the better, but if has no effect a decision to lock down the country for at least a week must be made as soon as possible so that everybody will stay at home.”
The National Coronavirus Taskforce will make a decision regarding a two-week lockdown on Saturday, November 14, according to deputy health minister Ghasem Jan-Babaei. As of November 12, however, the decisions approved by the taskforce have proven to be ineffective, to such a degree that Covid-19 records are being broken day by day.
Commenting on the decision to allow 50 percent of government employees to work remotely, Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province, said: “this has been effective in terms of social distancing in offices but has done nothing to reduce traffic.”
Reports over the last few days show that buses and metros have actually become more crowded because most businesses and offices have been forced to close at 6pm.
Provinces Round-up
“The number of fatalities in the last few weeks in the Razavi Khorasan province show that the virus is at its peak in this province,” said President Rouhani. But Mohammad Hossein Bahraini, president of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences believes that the situation in the province has improved in recent days and the number of infections and fatalities has fallen.
Nevertheless, Mohsen Gachpazan, president of the board of directors of the Nursing Organization in Mashhad region reports that approximately 40 percent of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in this area where 11 thousand nurses work have been infected with coronavirus. Gachpazan, who himself has been infected with coronavirus and is now in quarantine, said that a complete lockdown of all cities in the province that are in a state of high alert is necessary and “no economic problem is more important than the people’s lives.”
Dr. Alireza Sedaghat, head of the ICU ward at Mashhad’s Imam Reza Hospital, also believes that quarantine is the only real solution. “More than 50 percent of our nurses in our ICU have been infected,” he said. “20 percent of them are now being treated in the ICU ward and this is a disaster.”
At the request of local governors and due to economic problems, restrictions in six cities in Kermanshah will be lifted from Saturday, November 14, announced Houshang Bazvand, governor of Kermanshah province.
At the same time, however, Mehdi Mohammadi, head of Kermanshah University of Medical Science’s Coronavirus Information Office, reported that the rate of infections in the province is increasing. “Currently 1,239 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the province,” he said. “In the past 24 hours 250 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were hospitalized and 176 were released from the hospitals.” He also reported that in the past 24 hours eight patients lost their lives to Covid-19, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,017.
In the past 24 hours 16 more Covid-19 patients died in Alborz province and the total death toll in the province now stands at 1,965, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. “In the past 24 hours, 122 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were hospitalized across the province. Currently 898 confirmed or suspected coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Alborz.”
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 12, health ministry’s spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 13:
Weekly Review of Coronavirus Disinformation in Iran: Officials Speak with a Forked Tongue
In recent weeks, the proposal to lock down big cities, and specifically Tehran, has been the focus of arguments and disagreements. Before the meeting between the National Coronavirus Taskforce and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei took place on October 24, all decisions to impose restrictions to control the epidemic in Iran were supervised and approved by President Rouhani, but these decisions have not been implemented satisfactorily.
It was only after the creation of the taskforce’s “Base of Operations,” adopted during the joint session with Khamenei, that the decision was made to close down non-essential businesses and services, first in 43 cities and then in 46 other metropolitan areas, followed by a ban on travel to and from 25 provincial capitals. And, in the last few days, all businesses have been instructed to close at 6pm, and it was announced that there would be a curfew on traffic from between 9pm and 4am. Nevertheless, the surge of coronavirus across Iran is so out of control that restrictions of this kind do not seem to have a real impact. Finally, after extensive back-and-forth arguments and disagreements among various government officials, the taskforce is to discuss the plan for a complete lockdown of Tehran next week.
Disagreements Within the Taskforce
Dr. Mino Moharez, a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, is among the health experts who have consistently championed a total lockdown of Tehran in recent weeks. On November 8, as the arguments for and against a complete lockdown of Tehran were in full force, she said: “when the National Coronavirus Taskforce, which is headed by the president, the highest executive official in the country, orders a lockdown but the provincial government does not agree with it, it is a very questionable proposition. I really do not know what the answer is. I am really surprised by the provincial government’s decision.”
On the morning of the same day, Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpey, governor of Tehran province, had announced that a lockdown of Tehran was no longer on the agenda and, instead, other measures would be adopted in Tehran.
Nevertheless, less than 24 hours later, on November 9, Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, tried to project a picture of harmony to the people and the media, contradicting the narrative of continuous in-fighting. “A colleague of ours has said that the president has agreed with a lockdown of Tehran but the governor of Tehran has opposed it,” he said. “This is not true. The president presides over the national taskforce, which discusses proposals and makes decisions, and if the taskforce issues an order it must be carried out. So to say that the president has ordered a two-week lockdown of Tehran but the governor has not accepted it is not true and is hereby denied.”
On November 8, Raeesi had said that “a two-week lockdown of Tehran had never been discussed by the national taskforce,” but on November 11 Governor Mohseni Bandpey said, “the proposal for a two-week lockdown of Tehran has been discussed by Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce and I, as head of the taskforce, agree."
Will the Tehran taskforce and the national one be able to resolve their differences and agree on a lockdown on Saturday, November 14? Or will Iranians continue to be forced to watch a constant rise in the number of fatalities in Iran? Some officials have said that a lockdown of Tehran will have a serious economic impact, so it could be that Rouhani is listening to these officials and basing decisions on their statements.
The Forked Tongue of the Health Ministry
On October 20, after the decision was made that people not wearing masks in Tehran will have to pay fines, health minister Saeed Namaki complained: “we asked the national taskforce to impose a fine on the people who do not wear masks, but go and look at the numbers and see how many have been fined. We told them, 'close the roads,' but how many roads did they close? This is not the way to contain an epidemic. If the situation is not set right we will have to fish dead bodies out from the rivers.”
On November 8, however, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari had something different to say. Reporting that only two fines had been deposited into the ministry’s bank account, she denied that the health ministry was actively punishing and fining people. “The ultimate goal,” she said, “is more about compliance with health protocols and more wearing of masks and this is something that is only possible if people cooperate.”
Contradictory statements by senior Iranian officials about coronavirus continue to discredit whatever they say afterward. As Tehran’s governor Mohseni Bandpey himself says, “we have not been successful in securing the cooperation of the people in fighting coronavirus.” This hints that there is a profound lack of trust in the government and officials.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 13, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 14:
Rumors of Health Official Resignation as Tehran Lockdown Rejected
On November 14, the National Coronavirus Taskforce met to make a final decision about whether or not a two-week lockdown of Tehran would go ahead, a move that many health experts had endorsed. But on the day the meeting was due to go ahead, there were reports that President Rouhani had opposed the lockdown and rumors that health minister Saeed Namaki had resigned in protest. Officials, however, have denied these reports, dismissing them as “fake news.”
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After a long tug of war over a two-week lockdown of Tehran and other big cities, it was recently announced that the National Coronavirus Taskforce would make a decision on Saturday, November 14. After the taskforce met, however, President Rouhani and the spokesman for the taskforce announced that, starting on November 21, “other measures” would be implemented.
Some media outlets reported that President Rouhani had personally opposed the lockdown and there were news that health minister Saeed Namaki had resigned in protest. However, Alireza Moezzi, communications director of the president’s office, called these reports “fake news”.
National Coronavirus Taskforce officials did not offer any reasons for the two-week lockdown being rejected; instead, they only outlined the new restrictions.
New Measures: More of a “Warning”
According to President Rouhani, new restrictions in Iranian cities will be imposed from November 21 and will last as long as is necessary. It appears that, once again, these measures are focused on “imposing fines” and “closure of cultural centers” and as Rouhani said, they are designed to “warn” people.
According to Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, the restrictions in a certain area depend on the color code of the alert in that area: red (level three), orange (level two) or yellow (level 1). These are classifications that have been used throughout the coronavirus crisis in Iran. According to the government, each set of restrictions must be strictly follow and will remain in place for two weeks. After two weeks, officials said, the situation will be evaluated to see how effective the restrictions have been. Depending on the results, they will either be extended and made stricter or relaxed.
Raeesi added that essential businesses and services will be allowed to function in “red” cities only, and everything else will be ordered to shut down. According to him, more than 100 cities, including Tehran and provincial capitals, fall into this category, approximately 150 cities and counties fall into the “orange” category and 155 counties are designated as “yellow.”
The number of office workers and government employees allowed to work in offices, he said, will also depend on the color code: one-third will be allowed to go to offices in red areas, half of the normal employees will be allowed in orange areas, and two-thirds in yellow areas. Certain restrictions on traffic within and between provinces will also be imposed.
Taken together, most of these measures resemble previous rounds of restrictions, which have proved largely ineffective and have been harshly criticized for lack of planning, lack of coordination between government agencies and extremely lax enforcement.
Fatalities Expected to Double in Coming Weeks
Since the beginning of November, the official number of daily coronavirus fatalities in Iran has exceeded 450. In a TV interview, first deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said it was expected that this number will continue to rise. He also referred to a projection by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), a research institute at the University of Washington in Seattle that works on global health statistics and impact evaluation, and said: “We do not take it as our benchmark but, unfortunately, it projects that the number of fatalities in our country will almost double in the next two weeks.”
Prior to this, Harirchi had said that the country’s authorities must double the official number of fatalities to arrive at the accurate number. If true, it should be expected that in the coming weeks the number of deaths from coronavirus could rise to somewhere around 1,500 per day.
Provinces Round-up
Kermanshah has been in a state of red alert for weeks, and in the 24 hours spanning November 13 and November 14, 19 more patients lost their lives, bringing the death toll for the province to 1,053. “During the same time period, 171 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized and 136 patients who had recovered were released,” reported Mehdi Mohammadi, head of Kermanshah Coronavirus Taskforce’s Information Committee. “Currently, a total of 1,212 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in the province.” The situation in Kermanshah is highly critical and all its cities except one are in a red state of alert.
In Fars province, not only patients have lined up outside medical centers, there are also lines at the cemeteries. “In recent days the number of coronavirus fatalities in Shiraz has increased considerably and for this reason there have been disruptions and delays in the delivery of bodies,” said Ali Parsazadeh, head of Shiraz Cemeteries Management Bureau.
According to Parsazadeh, coronavirus deaths in Shiraz are increasing day by day and, for this reason, cemetery workers are exhausted as much as health workers. Currently every day between 80 to 100 bodies, Covid-19 fatalities and others, are brought to the main cemetery of Shiraz.
In Alborz province, still in a red state of alert, currently 918 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized. In the past 24 hours 15 other patients died, bringing the total death toll in the province to 2,006.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 14, health ministry’s spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 16:
Covid-19 Crisis Means Patients With Other Illnesses go Without Treatment
The rise in the number of Covid-19 patients and the need for beds to treat them has increasingly reduced the number of hospital beds for patients with other medical needs. In addition, underlying diseases including diabetes, asthma, cancer and kidney and liver disorders make people more vulnerable to coronavirus. As a result, fewer of them go to medical centers, fearing they will catch the virus, and, if they do, they fear that minimal resources are available to care for them.
“In Iran, 11 percent of people over 25, or approximately 5.5 million people, have diabetes,” said Dr. Afshin Ostovar, the head of the health ministry’s Department of Non-Infectious Diseases. “With the coronavirus crisis and the allocation of hospital beds to Covid-19 patients, services for treating these patients have been disrupted. In recent months even some diabetes clinics have been shut down and this has made it difficult for diabetic patients, especially since they are in more danger if they are infected with coronavirus.”
Mohammad Haji Jafari, vice president of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan province, reported that the city’s Shahid Beheshti Hospital is running out of beds and the increase in the number of Covid-19 patients has left less capacity for non-coronavirus patients.
“Cancer patients, patients in need of dialysis and other non-coronavirus patients have always used the services of Kashan Shahid Beheshti Hospital. What wrongs have these patients committed to deserve the risk of coronavirus infection when they come to Shahid Beheshti Hospital? A heart patient or a patient who needs dialysis could be in mortal danger if he does not receive medical services on time.”
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, health minister Saeed Namaki has repeatedly claimed that no patient has been kept out of treatment centers in Iran. But the fact cannot be ignored that a good number of patients do not go to hospitals in the first place because they are afraid of contracting coronavirus.
Health Minister: “I am not going anywhere”
After the National Coronavirus Taskforce ignored proposals for a two-week lockdown of Tehran on Saturday, November 14, there were reports that Saeed Namaki had resigned in protest. On November 15, he denied these reports as mere rumors. “Although I might insist on my positions and bargain hard, I am not one who would leave the arena to the detriment of the people,” he said
Namaki also commented on various officials and their initial response to the coronavirus outbreak, describing them as “naïve.” “At the time I said at cabinet meetings that I worried the day would come that this fire would strike at each and every member of the cabinet and this is what has happened.”
Tehran City Council Still Calling for Lockdown
Despite the fact that the National Coronavirus Taskforce failed to consider a lockdown of Tehran in its latest weekly session, members of Tehran City Council still believe that a total lockdown is the only way to deal with the current coronavirus crisis in the city.
“The restrictions imposed last week by the National Coronavirus Taskforce have had no serious impact on traffic or on people’s behavior,” said Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, president of Tehran City Council, who reiterated the necessity of a total lockdown of the nation’s capital. “According to a health ministry official, we are not far off the danger of 1,000 fatalities per day in the country,” he said.
He then addressed President Rouhani: “the president must rest assured that this proposal has been reviewed by the experts of Tehran City Council’s Health Committee and has been approved by the Tehran provincial government after being endorsed by the Tehran Coronavirus Taskforce.”
Rafsanjani had earlier criticized government officials, accusing them of lacking “the audacity and the will” to break the chain of coronavirus transmission.
Coronavirus has Killed at least 19,000 in Tehran
According to the daily report by Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery and based on the cause of death recorded on death certificates, in the last 24 hours 160 people died from Covid-19 in the Iranian capital, reported Nahid Khoda-Karami, head of Tehran City Council’s Health Committee. She said that since the coronavirus outbreak over 19,000 people in Tehran have died from the virus.
Khoda-Karami said she believes that “drop by drop” restrictions have not contained the virus and the only way to stop its spread is a total lockdown of Tehran for at least two weeks “to prevent more deaths among the citizens.” According to her, close to 3,000 Covid-19 patients in critical condition are being treated at ICU wards in Tehran, and these wards are almost full.
Provinces Round-up
Dr. Hamid Sharifi, professor of contagious diseases at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, warned that if the surge of coronavirus in Iran is not contained the number of fatalities will rise so high that the cemeteries will not be able to bury all the bodies. He also warned that if serious action was not taken immediately, the situation would become more critical in the coming days as the weather turns very cold, and the hospitals might even run out of beds, especially in ICU wards. He called on the government to establish contact tracing so that people with coronavirus are identified and isolated and cannot infect others.
In the 24-hour period spanning November 14 and November 15, in Kermanshah province another 22 Covid-19 patients died, bringing the total death toll in the province to 1,075. This was the highest number of coronavirus fatalities in the province over a period of one day. In the same 24 hours, 232 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized across the province. Currently 1,202 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Kermanshah, 174 of them in ICUs.
The transmission of the virus at wedding and mourning ceremonies continues to be a problem preoccupying provincial officials in Lorestan province. On November 15, Dariush Shahounvand, Lorestan’s prosecutor-general, announced a ban on wedding ceremonies and said that those violating the rule would be prosecuted. “If a person or persons violate this ordinance, action will be taken to impound cars carrying the bride, the groom and their companions and these people can be prosecuted for endangering public health.”
The prosecutor also announced that no more than 15 people can be present at funeral parlors and no more than 50 at a funeral. He instructed the police to impound cars if the ordinance is violated and to treat violators “decisively.”
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 15, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 17:
Health Minister Warns of Four-Digit Covid-19 Deaths Per Day
Since the beginning of November, the official number of coronavirus fatalities has been higher than 400 per day on all but three days. The highest, 486, was on Monday, November 16, but the figure for November 17 was not much better, at 483. The surge of new cases passed the 10,000-mark on November 9 and has continued to rise since then. The number of new Covid-19 cases, 13,352, on November 17, was the highest since the pandemic started in Iran.
Numerous health experts and health ministry officials have repeatedly insisted that the only way out of the crisis is a total lockdown of big cities, which would also give health workers and the health system a much-needed opportunity for a relative break and a chance to plan for the coming weeks. And yet, hopes for a total lockdown were dashed, reportedly because President Rouhani opposed the idea. Instead, another plan, dubbed “the comprehensive plan to impose dynamic restrictions to fight coronavirus,” was adopted.
The plan will take effect on Saturday, November 21, and President Rouhani’s administration says it hopes these efforts against the surge of coronavirus will succeed through “solidarity” and “general mobilization.”
Nevertheless, health minister Saeed Namaki was not unconditionally optimistic. “If people cooperate we shall win the game,” he said, but warned that, otherwise, coronavirus fatalities could reach a 4-digit figure.
More Details about the New Plan
Under this plan, according to Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, restrictions will be imposed in 25 provincial capitals and in a number of big cities. In the cities affected, only essential businesses and services will be allowed to remain open and operational, including food shops, rescue and relief services, supermarkets, medical centers such as clinics and hospitals, and centers to maintain the water, electricity, gas and phone infrastructure.
In all cities in red, orange and yellow states of alert, schools, universities and religious and cultural centers will be closed and Friday prayers will not be allowed. Only one-third of employees are permitted to work in-person at one time in any government office.
Restrictions have also been placed on traffic between cities in red and orange areas. In cities designated as red or orange, vehicles with local license plates cannot enter any city apart from the one in which they are registered. For instance, if a car has a Tehran license plate it is not permitted to enter the city of Isfahan. And vehicles with non-local license plates cannot enter red cities. People who violate these rules will be required to pay fines.
However, there are still some uncertainties about the restrictions due to get underway on Saturday, November 21, mainly about restrictions in Tehran. Various officials have made a range of statements about curfews and other rules in Tehran. The newest comes from Isa Farhadi, governor of the city of Tehran, who announced that all non-essential businesses must close and traffic must stop between the hours of 9pm and 4am.
Provinces Round-up
“On occasion, we have hospitalized all members of the same family,” said Alireza Moraveji, president of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan province. “In the 35th week of the epidemic the rate of infections in Kashan was 17 per 100,000 of the population, as it was in Isfahan province as a whole, but since November 13 the rate of infections in the Kashan area has risen to 23 per 100,000. This means that the hospitalization of those who have tested positive has increased. But these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, meaning that there are more patients who have not been identified and remain at home.”
Moraveji also reported that all hospitals in Kashan were filled to capacity and the university was forced to set up and equip 80 beds in a gymnasium.
The number of Covid-19 fatalities in the small Persian Gulf island of Kish now stands at 20. Until recently, Kish, with a population of around 40,000, was in a “green” state of alert, or at low risk. Dr. Mohammad Reza Rezania, president of Kish Health Center, says the main reason for new fatalities has been that patients have delayed going to medical centers. “People must consider any pulmonary symptom as a possible sign of coronavirus infection and be aware that if they go to treatment centers in the early days of infection, recovery will be much more likely and much easier.”
In the 24-hour period spanning November 16 and November 17, in the province of Kermanshah, which has been in a red state of alert for weeks,17 more Covid-19 patients died, bringing the total coronavirus death toll in the province to 1,116. In the last 24 hours, 234 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized, bringing the total to 1,110.
With the new “extensive” restrictions just around the corner, Kermanshah’s provincial government announced that all cities in the province are in a red state of alert, meaning that restrictions for red areas will be imposed across the whole province.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 17, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology.
November 21:
Crowds on Public Transport Despite Tehran Lockdown
Iran has introduced tough new restrictions in the country’s largest cities, and yet videos and photographs posted on social networks show in Tehran, dubbed the “coronavirus exchange crossroad,” and in other cities, there are still large numbers of people on the streets, public transport is crowded, and, despite people being officially required to work at home, many office workers, especially those who work for private companies, continue to report to their places of work. Traffic levels are the same as they were before restrictions went into effect.
From the morning of Saturday, November 21, extensive lockdowns got underway in 160 cities in a red state of alert and other restrictions were also imposed in 208 orange and 80 yellow cities. According to officials from the National Coronavirus Taskforce, violators are being forced to bear the consequences, which include the shutting down of businesses, fines, dismissal from jobs and so on. Individuals whose cars are registered in one town but then travel to another town in an orange state of alert will be charged a fine of 500,000 tomans ($121). The fine for entering red cities is twice that amount.
In red cities, a curfew on traffic is being enforced from 9pm to 4am. People who have tested positive must pay a fine of 200,000 tomans ($49) if they refuse to quarantine. In cities in a yellow and orange state of alert, half of government employees are required to report to their offices, and the rest must work remotely. In cities deemed to be in a red state of alert, a third of government employees must report to work in person.
The Tehran Chamber of Guilds announced that, due to new lockdowns, only 30 percent of businesses are able to remain open as of November 21; 70 percent of them will be required to close down for two weeks.
The daily number of fatalities continues to top 400 and, out of 40,000 tests conducted in Iran per day, approximately 13,000 are positive — a strong indicator that the surge of coronavirus continues to gain strength. Many people who are infected with coronavirus and show symptoms but have not been tested or have tested negative are not included in official tallies of Covid-19 fatalities. Health officials have themselves admitted that between 30 and 40 percent of negative test results are wrong.
Quick Appointments Following High-Profile Resignations
Just before “comprehensive lockdowns” across Iran went into effect, Reza Malekzadeh, the Deputy Health Minister for Research, and Ali Nobakht Haghighi, the newly-appointed secretary for the Coronavirus Advisory Council, resigned in protest against critical statements made by health minister Saeed Namaki.
The resignations of Malekzadeh and Nobakht were apparently triggered by comments Namaki made during a speech in Isfahan, in which he sharply attacked his ministry’s Research Department, dismissing 98 percent of its research as “useless,” and adding that one of its predictions about the spread of coronavirus was incorrect.
In his letter of resignation, Reza Malekzadeh described Namaki’s management of the pandemic as “very wrong” and “very defective.” He said Namaki’s statements about the development of the coronavirus vaccine in Iran “were unscientific and hasty” and cited the “baseless claims by Namaki and the Food and Drug administration about the effectiveness of herbal medicine” and Namaki’s “inability to correctly understand research” as reasons for his resignation.
“Whenever the number of infections and fatalities has risen you have shirked responsibility and whenever the numbers have dropped slightly you have claimed you can teach the world how to manage the coronavirus crisis,” wrote Malekzadeh. He also accused Namaki of turning the subject of a made-in-Iran vaccine into a “circus.”
Just a few hours later, Iranian media reported that the secretary for the Coronavirus Advisory Council, Ali Nobakht Haghighi, had also stepped down. In his letter of resignation, Haghighi wrote that his decision had been prompted by Namaki’s statements in Isfahan “lambasting medical science and doctors.” Haghighi referred to Namaki sarcastically as “your excellency,” and added that he had unfortunately been left “with no option” but to terminate his work with the minister and his ministry.
On Saturday, November 21, Namaki appointed Farid Najafi, a professor of epidemiology at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, to replace Malekzadeh as his deputy in charge of research. In his letter appointing Najafi, Namaki did not miss the opportunity to retaliate against Malekzadeh and Nobakht, albeit indirectly. “Make sure that in carrying out scientific research and studies, unscientific elements such as herd immunity...are not repeated,” he wrote.
While health officials were exchanging these barbed words, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, president of Iran’s Medical Council, fired his own shot across the health ministry’s bow. The week before, Kianoush Jahanpour, the spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, had claimed that four herbal medications effective at treating Covid-19 symptoms were ready and that two of them had been approved. Zafarghandi asked the Food and Drug Administration to provide the Medical Council with the scientific evidence to lead to the approval these drugs.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, advocates and manufacturers of so-called “Islamic” or “traditional” medicine have championed remedies including herbal drugs, gaining the support of a number of websites and news agencies affiliated with the regime.
Nearing 80,000 Coronavirus Tests in Iran
Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, reported that higher numbers of coronavirus tests were due to be carried out in Iran. Recently, the number of tests per day was increased from 25,000 to 40,000. Raeesi said, “We have received tests that can be carried out quickly and which have been made in Iran, and we will distribute them to all treatment centers. We expect the number of tests will reach 80,000 by next week and 100,000 in two weeks.”
Provinces Round-up
With the death of seven Covid-19 patients in the 24-hour period spanning November 20 and November 21, the official coronavirus death toll in Kermanshah province rose to 1,161. In the same 24-hour period, 120 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the province, bringing the total number of hospitalizations in Kermanshah to 928. Out of this number, 172 were being treated at ICUs; 58 of these individuals were reported to be in a serious condition.
Out of the 36 cities in Fars province, 18 are in a red state of alert. According to media reports, only cars entering the provincial capital of Shiraz are being screened for out-of-city license plates, whereas, according to restrictions that started on November 21, travel between cities in a red state of alert is banned. Dr. Abdolrasoul Hemmati, vice president of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, said every hour one person dies from coronavirus-related illness in Fars province.
It was reported that the nighttime curfew on traffic had been lifted in the northern province of Gilan. “The ban on traffic from 9pm to 4am that was to go into effect in red cities has been lifted until further notice,” announced Mahmoud Ghasemnejad, director of Gilan’s Coronavirus Taskforce. “People of this province will face no problems in driving during these hours.” He did not provide any justification or reason for this decision.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 21, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours:
Dr. Lari also reported that all 31 Iranian provinces are in red, orange or yellow states of alert.
November 28:
Iran’s Health Ministry Reports Slowing of Coronavirus Infections
Starting on Saturday, November 21, extensive restrictions and lockdowns were imposed in numerous cities across Iran. The restrictions went into effect on November 25 in 43 cities and gradually, from November 25, 46 other cities were added to the list. Restrictions were also extended to larger parts of Iran that were under a red state of alert. It has now been a week since these lockdowns began and, according to official statistics and sources, in the past 24 hours the number of confirmed coronavirus fatalities has fallen below 400 for the first time in several weeks.
First Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi predicted that, with a 40 percent fall in fatalities and a 50 percent reduction in the hospitalization of Covid-19 patients by February 20, the number of fatalities would drop to around 300 a day, which is still high, but he believes that if this trend continues it will fall even further.
At this point, in around 145 of the 160 cities under red alert, the number of infections is declining and officials are hopeful that in the remaining 15 cities the rate of infections will follow suit as well.
Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, claimed that as of Saturday, November 28, all 89 cities except two that were previously under red alert are now orange or yellow. Raeesi believes that, with the drop in the number of hospitalizations, the number of fatalities will also drop in two or three weeks.
National ID Cards to Identify Coronavirus Positive Cases
Raeesi also announced that, according to a new ordinance by the taskforce, people who visit government offices or who want to use public transportation must carry their national ID cards. He did not specify whether this requirement applies only to people who use public transportation inside cities, between the cities or both.
Last week it was announced that the national ID numbers of individuals who have tested positive for coronavirus within a two-week period will be registered with the Health Ministry and they would be refused services such as traveling by road, trains or planes.
“We are witnessing a considerable drop in traffic inside cities, between cities and in various hours of the day,” Harirchi said, commenting on the effects of the first week of the lockdowns. “Likewise, the gatherings and crowds that violated social distancing has declined noticeably and compliance with heath protocols and guidelines has increased markedly.”
“We have not sent back any patients”
Those who cannot afford private healthcare should go to government hospitals, Harirchi also said, claiming that “we have never refused and will not refuse anybody at government hospitals. Outpatients who cannot afford care – and unfortunately, considering the current economic situation, there are many of them – must definitely go to government centers for treatment.”
“Besides treatments and fatalities, coronavirus has other direct and indirect costs as well,” said Harirchi. “Government hospitals cover at least 90 percent of the costs, and even if a person is not covered by insurance, we insure him as he is in the hospital bed and cover 90 percent of the costs. Outpatient centers are being expanded to 5,000 locations and in all these outpatient centers we provide patients with free tests and medication. With the help of the Basij Organization and the Executive Headquarters of the Imam's Directive we are also providing people with protective gear such as masks. … But there are still expenses that puts financial pressure on the people, for instance the expenses that people must pay who go directly to the private sector.”
The Health Ministry has also promised that within the next three weeks it will increase the number of coronavirus tests to 100,000 per day.
Provinces Round-up
In Yazd province the number of fatalities has been on an upward trend and on Saturday, November 28, the Yazd Coronavirus Taskforce announced that lockdowns and restrictions will be imposed in the province for one week. “All government and public offices, with the exception of essential services and the hospitals, will be closed,” announced Ahmad Tarahomi, acting director of Yazd Coronavirus Taskforce.
Tarahomi said there will be a curfew on all traffic between 9pm and 4am. Essential businesses such as bakeries, dairy shops, food stalls, supermarkets and take-out-only restaurants and fast food shops are allowed to remain upon until 8:30 pm but other businesses must close at 3:30 pm.
In Bushehr, the provincial Education Bureau announced that, for another week, no schools in the province can hold in-person classes or in-person exams. And Saeed Kashmiri, director of Bushehr Coronavirus Taskforce, reported that in the past three days, from November 25 to 27, nobody had died from confirmed Covid-19 cases in the province.
In Kermanshah, the provincial Governor Houshang Bazvand announced that all government offices in cities under red, orange or yellow states of alert will close starting on Saturday, November 28. All essential services, he said, will work with one-third of their employees, but this number can be increased to 50 percent at the discretion of managers. “Rain has been predicted in the coming days and, therefore, all managers of executive agencies must be present at their workplaces,” he added.
The number of coronavirus infections and fatalities in Kermanshah has declined and in the past 24 hours only five confirmed Covid-19 cases passed away. Currently 813 coronavirus patients are hospitalized across the province and the total death toll for Kermanshah stands at 1,245.
The Alborz University of Medical Sciences announced that, in the past 24 hours, 79 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the province, bringing the total number of hospitalizations in Alborz to 842 people. In recent weeks Alborz had witnessed a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus fatalities and in just one day more than 20 patients with Covid-19 had died, but in the past 24 hours this number fell to nine. The total death toll in the province now stands at 2,278.
Iran’s Latest Coronavirus Statistics
In her daily briefing for November 28, health ministry’s spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the past 24 hours:
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