Coronavirus Task Force Spokesman: We Have No Choice But to Impose Strict Restrictions

Given the successive record-breaking coronavirus cases in Iran, the spokesman of the coronavirus task force emphasized the necessity of implementing strict restrictions. The deputy health minister has predicted that coronavirus deaths will continue to rise over the next one and a half months.

Aliireza Raisi emphasizes that there is no way to control the severe spread of coronavirus other than moving toward strict restrictions. He also called for support packages to be provided to businesses that suffer losses from closures.

According to ISNA news agency, the spokesman of the National Coronavirus Task Force said on Tuesday evening, August 10: “Of course, I don’t mean complete shutdown, but rather refer to strict restrictions on travel, traffic, gatherings, and adherence to protocols such as wearing masks.”

A few days earlier, Aliireza Zali, the commander of coronavirus response operations in Tehran metropolis, emphasized that partial and temporary closures are ineffective and called for implementing “lockdown in the true sense.”

In the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which according to Zali has not yet reached its peak, the highest rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations of severely ill patients, and deaths have repeatedly broken records.

Zali says that lockdown means complete closure, and to contain coronavirus, the entire city must be shut down and social activities must be minimized, with only essential businesses such as food supply, medicines, and emergency services operating while all other businesses must close.

Prediction of Continued Rise in Cases and Deaths

Iraj Harirchi, deputy health minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has predicted that cases will continue to rise for the next month and deaths will continue to rise for the next one and a half months.

Saeid Namaki, health minister of the twelfth government, in his final days at the ministry, wrote a letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic discussing the necessity of a complete two-week shutdown.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred the examination of this issue to the National Coronavirus Task Force, but at the last meeting of this task force in the twelfth government, the proposal was not approved.

The coronavirus task force spokesman has also made clear that there is no way to break the chain of coronavirus transmission except by implementing strict restrictions, and decisions must be made to move in this direction.

For months, one of the criticisms of executive officials has been negligence and procrastination in providing the vaccines needed by citizens, which is partly attributed to Khamenei’s December 10 order prohibiting the import of British and American vaccines.

Denial of Khamenei’s Prohibition Order

Kianosh Jahanpour, spokesman for the Food and Drug Organization of the Health Ministry, denied this prohibition in a tweet and claimed that the prohibition applies to vaccines produced in Britain and America.

Major pharmaceutical companies are multinational corporations and in most cases produce their products, including COVID-19 prevention vaccines, in different countries.

It appears that Khamenei’s order may not be unrelated to the production of Barkat vaccine at one of the subsidiaries of the “Execution Headquarters of the Imam’s Order,” which is one of the institutions under his command.

Vaccination in Iran began on February 11 with a limited number of Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine and continued with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, whose exports did not continue according to plans and promises.

In recent months, several AstraZeneca vaccines, a product of British and Swedish companies, were imported into Iran and produced in South Korea. Imports of this vaccine have increased in recent weeks.

Despite the acceleration of the vaccination process in Iran from the beginning of August, as of Tuesday, only 3 million 275 thousand people out of Iran’s population of approximately 84 million have been fully vaccinated.

Source: DW