Iran’s pandemic casualties rising amid low compliance with protocols: Ministry
Iran’s Health Ministry announced that an increasing trend is being reflected by the country’s number of daily COVID-19 deaths and infections as new coronavirus variants have spread into most provinces.
The Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadar Lari said this comes as compliance with the health protocols has decreased significantly, IRNA reported.
She noted that over the past seven days, the number of the people referred to hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms witnessed a growth of 25 percent, adding hospitalizations and deaths also increased by 35 percent and 18.5 percent respectively in this period.
Lari said the highest number of hospitalizations during last week pertained to the provinces of Ilam (western Iran), Kerman (southeastern Iran), Yazd (central Iran), Mazandaran (northern Iran) and Hormuzgan (southern Iran).
She regretted that observance of the health protocols in the country has reached an unprecedentedly low level (48 percent) since the beginning of the outbreak in late February 2020, listing as having the least compliance levels the provinces of Gilan (northern Iran), Alborz (northern Iran), Kerman, Fars (southern Iran), Hormuzgan and Sistan and Baluchestan (southeastern Iran).
Casualties
The Health Ministry announced in a statement on Sunday said that the country’s daily COVID-19 deaths and infections reached 195 and 22,184, respectively, in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, the total COVID-19 death toll and infections since the beginning of the outbreak in the country stand at 87,161 and 3,523,263, respectively.
It added that 4,306 COVID-19 patients are in critical condition, and of the newlydetected cases, 2,012 individuals have been hospitalized.
The ministry said 3,135,060 COVID-19 patients have so far either recovered from the disease or have been discharged from hospitals.
It also announced that 25,044,984 coronavirus diagnostic tests have so far been carried out in the country, and 8,448,070 doses of COVID vaccines have been administered.
The Health Ministry said 169 cities in the country are coded red (very high-risk), while 166 are in the orange zone (highrisk).
Based on a decision by the National Task Force for Fighting the Coronavirus, travel to and from these cities is prohibited.
The number of the country’s yellow (medium-risk) and blue (low-risk) cities are 113 and zero, respectively, according to the ministry.
Imported jabs
In addition, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) for technical affairs, Mehrdad Jamali, said over 12 million doses of COVID vaccines were imported over the past six months.
In a letter to Mohammadreza Shanehsaz, the deputy health minister, he added during February 3-July 18, a total of 12,122,200 doses of COVID jabs in 23 consignments were imported through the customs of Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran and handed over to the Health Ministry.
Jamali listed some of the imported vaccines as Russian-made Sputnik V (920,000 doses), China’s Sinopharm (1.65 million doses) and India’s Covaxin (125,000 doses), saying 7.27 million doses of other foreign jabs were also imported.
Iran has also received 2.15 million doses of vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program.
UNFPA donation
Moreover, the deputy head of the State Welfare Organization of Iran, Mohammad Nafarieh, said on Sunday that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has donated 1,000 oxygen concentrators to retirement homes in Iran.
In an address to a ceremony to donate the oxygen concentrators symbolically, he added 800 devices were delivered last week and 200 will be handed over in the coming days.