Today marked the 42nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In Tehran, vast processions of cars and other vehicles began from 12 different points in the city in the morning, driving through the streets to circle Azadi Square: the traditional locus of political and symbolic gatherings.
In some other cities, though, the occasion was marked by the traditional in-person marches. It had previously been announced that marches were banned and only cars and motorcycles were allowed, so as to prevent the spread of coronavirus. These processions took place at a time when 36 Iranian cities are on “orange” alert for transmission risk, and some provincial officials have declared a “fourth wave” is under way in parts of Iran.
Plans for 210,000 Vaccinations a Day
Also on February 10, the Health Ministry’s Center for the Prevention of Contagious Diseases officially announced the details of Iran’s ongoing plan for coronavirus vaccinations. According to this plan, 60 million Iranians are to be inoculated within the year, meaning 120 million doses of vaccine will need to be procured.
Every month 10 million doses are set to be distributed, meaning five million people can be fully vaccinated. In other words, 210,000 people will receive the jab every day. If enough doses of vaccine become available more rapidly, the plan states, up to 500,000 could be vaccinated each day– and by the end of this winter, the figure could reach 700,000.
The first to be vaccinated will be Iran’s reported 70,000 frontline medical personnel followed by 600,000 members of high-risk groups including the elderly and war veterans exposed to chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. To fully protect these people the Islamic Republic therefore needs 2.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of this winter.
The plan states that the next in line will be those aged over 65 and those aged between 16 and 64 with comorbidities such as diabetes, heart conditions and lung disorders. This cohort is due to be vaccinated during the spring and the first month of summer, and is thought to number around six million people.
The third phase of inoculations will then run out from July 23 to November 22. In this phase around 12 million more people are to be vaccinated including approximately two million in the most crowded cities, people aged between 55 and 64 who do not have underlying diseases, people who provide essential and necessary services, and non-frontline health workers. The final phase, in the winter of 2021, will cover everybody else.
Provinces Round-up
According to the latest figures announced by the Ministry of Health, 36 cities in Iran currently are in an orange state of alert, 178 cities are on yellow alert and 234 are rated blue.
The alert status of Iranian cities is set on Fridays based on the previous week’s data and is announced by the National Coronavirus Taskforce on Saturdays. It is therefore very likely that this Friday the number of cities on orange alert will continue to rise.
Vaccinations limited to frontline personnel who work in ICUs have continued in a number of provinces such as West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Razavi Khorasan, Hormozgan, Alborz, Gilan and Markazi.
In Kermanshah, 30 new patients with Covid-19 symptoms were admitted to hospital over the course of the previous 24 hours while 37 were discharged, reported Mehdi Mohammadi, speaking for Kermanshah Coronavirus Taskforce. Currently 144 confirmed or suspected coronavirus patients are hospitalized in the province and, with the deaths of two more patients, the officially-recorded number of coronavirus fatalities in the province reached 2,704.
Elsewhere 42 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in Alborz and 271 suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases are being treated in hospital, reported Dr. Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. During the same time period five more Covid-19 patients died in Alborz, bringing the official death toll to 2,704. The number of recorded fatalities in the province has been rising in recent days.
Mazandaran is at the top of the list of provinces with most the cities on orange alert and, with the hospitalization of 175 new patients with coronavirus symptoms, the increase in the number of infections in Mazandaran continued. The total number of people in hospital in the province today reached 1,100.
Since January 10 the number of new Covid-19 infections in Khuzestan has been rising rapidly and the alert level in four cities in this province has been elevated to orange, announced Reza Nejati, spokesman for Khuzestan Coronavirus Taskforce. He said that restrictions on non-essential businesses in these cities have been imposed and the traffic curfew from 9pm to 4am will be strictly enforced.
More than 60 percent of infections among pediatricians in Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan, is as a result of their contact with children, said Dr. Gholamreza Khademi, head of the ICU ward at Mashhad’s Akbar Hospital. He reported that as of now, 101 children in this city have died from Covid-19. Of the fatalities among hospitalized Covid-19 patients in Razavi Khorasan, noted Dr. Khademi, approximately three percent are children. “There are two reasons for the deaths of children who have been infected with coronavirus,” he said. “The first is heart and vascular complications and the second is underlying diseases. As of now, 1,179 children infected with coronavirus have been hospitalized in Akbar hospital.”
visit the accountability section
In this section of Iran Wire, you can contact the officials and launch your campaign for various problems
comments