The daily death toll from coronavirus broke records in Iran for a second day in a row, with 272 fatalities on Monday, October 12, up from 251 a day earlier. The majority of hospitals have run out of beds and the surge of coronavirus is so overwhelming that the National Coronavirus Taskforce finally approved a measure to impose fines on “coronavirus violators” in greater Tehran, saying that other provinces might follow suit.
According to Dr. Masoud Mardani, an infectious diseases specialist and a member of the National Coronavirus Taskforce’s Scientific Committee, the dimensions of the recent surge in coronavirus are very alarming. “In the last seven or eight months we have never come across such a situation,” he said. “If this trend continues we can expect a significant rise in the number of hospitalizations and mortalities.” He said some hospitals in Tehran have been almost filled to capacity.
General distribution of the flu vaccine was supposed to start in August, but this has yet to happen. Health officials had promised to provide 16 million doses but so far, they have secured only 1.7 million doses for exclusive use by high-risk groups.
Meanwhile, health minister Saeed Namaki announced on October 12: “In the next two or three weeks the testing of the vaccine on humans will start.” He was of course not referring to the flu vaccine but to a vaccine for coronavirus being developed in Iran. Namaki claimed the results from tests on animals had been encouraging but that there were still unanswered questions about its degree of effectiveness, durability and other features. “We are working on these,” he said.
In Tehran province, only 32 percent of people are observing health protocols, according to Hamid Reza Goodarzi, deputy governor for security affairs in the province. He stated that wearing masks is mandatory for people over 18. The first time an individual violates the mandate, they will receive a warning, he said, but if they break the rules a second time they will be fined 50,000 tomans ($12).
Air pollution in metropolitan areas threatens to weaken the body’s defenses against coronavirus, said Dr. Abbas Shahsavani, head of the health ministry’s Working Group on Air Safety and Climate Change. “Published research shows that long-term exposure to suspended particles and polluting gases such as nitrogen dioxide results in the overproduction of ACE2 [angiotensin-converting enzyme 2] in the lungs’ alveoli [air sacs] and this…disrupts the body’s defense system.”
Pointing out that with the arrival of cold season, air pollution will increase, he asked people to stay indoors for longer periods on days when air pollution is high.
Provinces Round-up
On October 10, the spokeswoman for the health ministry said that over the last week the average number of fatalities from coronavirus across Iran had been 20.2 per one million of the population, though in certain provinces such as Qom the number is much higher than the national average.
According to statistics published by Qom University of Medical Sciences, 233 patients in the province lost their lives to Covid-19 in the last three weeks, and the death toll over that period showed an increase when compared to the week before. According to these statistics, each day more than 100 patients are hospitalized in the province, which does not have a high population. During the second week of October, 1,253 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in Qom, compared to 1,162 a week earlier.
On Wednesday, October 14, new coronavirus restrictions will be imposed in Fars province for 10 days, reported Abdolreza Ghasempour, acting governor of Fars. These restrictions will be introduced despite the fact that the health ministry had stated that the situation in the province was better than average. According to Ghasempour, reception halls, coffee shops and cafés will be closed and restaurants, fast food outlets, fruit juice and ice cream bars will only be allowed to offer take-out services.
Since the coronavirus outbreak, 25 medical staff in the northern province of Gilan have lost their lives to Covid-19, according to Abtin Heydarzadeh, vice president of Gilan University of Medical Sciences. He said that, over the last 24 hours, more than 50 new coronavirus patients had been hospitalized in the province, bringing the total to more than 350.
The situation in the neighboring province of Mazandaran had not changed much throughout the first weeks of October. As of October 12, 528 coronavirus patients were hospitalized across the province.
However, the situation in the neighboring provinces of Tehran and Alborz continues to be critical. In the 24-hour period spanning October 11 and October 12, 18 Covid-19 patients died in Alborz, according to Mohammad Fathi, president of Alborz University of Medical Sciences. In the same 24 hours, 137 new coronavirus patients were hospitalized in the province, bringing the total number of current hospitalizations to 745.
In her daily briefing for October 12, the health ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari announced the official coronavirus statistics for the last 24 hours.
Dr. Lari also reported that, out of the 31 Iranian provinces, 30 remain in a high state of alert.
This is part of IranWire's coronavirus chronology. Read the full chronology
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