Monthly Deaths of ’50 Taxi Drivers’ in Tehran from Coronavirus; Only ‘Seven Percent’ of Population Vaccinated

While reports indicate that the death toll from coronavirus among taxi drivers in Tehran alone has reached 40 to 50 cases per month, Iran’s Health Minister acknowledged that the government and his ministry “have not managed the space for maintaining and disciplining social distancing.”

Mohammad Roushani, CEO of Tehran’s Taxi Organization, announced on Monday, July 12, that 425 taxi drivers in the capital had died due to COVID-19 by the end of June.

Reminding that vaccination for taxi drivers in Iran has not yet begun, he said: “Unfortunately, the death toll from coronavirus among taxi drivers has reached 40 to 50 cases per month.”

On the same day, Saeed Namaki, Iran’s Health Minister, who traveled to Zabol, told reporters: “Our merchants closed their shops at the height of financial hardship and complied with our requests, but we did not manage the space for maintaining and disciplining social distancing.”

Despite repeated warnings from experts and some officials at Iran’s Health Ministry about rising coronavirus cases following Nowruz travels, religious holidays, and other occasions, Hassan Rouhani’s government did not enforce serious restrictions on traffic control for long periods, and government officials mostly limited themselves to recommendations and warnings.

On Monday, Iran’s Health Minister further stated that “with a little adherence and listening to recommendations, many of these problems would not have occurred.”

Mr. Namaki continued: “It was not surprising that we laid out tablecloths during city and village council elections, held parties, got trapped, and what happened in other behaviors of people such as holding large wedding and mourning ceremonies was expected, and this is the consequence we are reaping.”

On Monday, with the identification of more than 20,000 new COVID-19 patients in the past 24 hours, the total number of infected people with this virus in the country exceeded three million.

Based on this report, which differs from actual figures of infected and coronavirus deaths, 182 more people died from coronavirus in the past day in Iran.

While health officials in Iran say since early July that the “fifth wave” of coronavirus outbreak has begun in Iran and Tehran and the northern half of the country are at risk, Hojjat-al-Islam Ruhollah Harizavi, Deputy Head of the Organization of Islamic Propaganda, announced on July 8 that all religious programs in the country will be held.

Iran is facing the fifth wave of coronavirus outbreak while the vaccination rate in the country is severely low compared to other countries, and Iran ranks 144th globally.

According to Jafar Sadiq Tabrizi, Deputy Health Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, only “seven percent of the population over 18 years old” have been vaccinated.

He has predicted that by the end of December this year, “the entire population of the country aged 18 and above will be vaccinated.” This claim comes while Health Ministry officials have repeatedly promised complete vaccination of the country’s population, but each time they announce a new deadline.

In recent months, Iran has unveiled at least five types of vaccines, but none of these vaccines have yet entered the vaccination cycle, and the country relies more on imported vaccines from China and Russia, which are limited in quantity.