Corona in Iran; Crisis Escalates in Sistan and Baluchestan, Increased Flights to Armenia

Ismail Hosseini Zahi, representative of Khash constituents, says the corona situation in Sistan and Baluchestan has “crossed the threshold of catastrophe” and armed forces should establish mobile hospitals.

Hosseinali Shahriari, representative of Zahedan, referring to the fact that “military institutions are preparing to launch field hospitals,” said without providing statistical details that the number of corona patients in the southeast of the country is “five times higher than previous waves.”

Officials of the Medical Sciences University of this province say that more than 60,000 people in this province have been infected with corona so far and 1,674 people have lost their lives, but some parliamentary representatives have estimated the actual figures to be higher than the announced figures.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Health, attributed the escalation of the crisis in Sistan and Baluchestan to the prevalence of the delta virus, and over the past 5 weeks, the number of outpatient and hospitalized patients has increased at a steeper rate, and now “positive corona tests in this province have reached around 60 percent.”

Tradernews website reported that power cuts and the failure of oxygen devices have escalated the crisis and “oxygen devices have become expensive and scarce and are being sold at twice the normal price.”

Tasnim news agency also reported, pointing to the intensification of pressures on the weak health and medical system of this province, that in some parts of the province, despite high prevalence of corona, “corona test kits are either unavailable or insufficient and do not meet the needs of the population.”

Concurrently with the escalation of the corona crisis, Sohila Khosravi, director general of blood transfusion in Sistan and Baluchestan, reported the impact of this situation on the blood reserves of this province and said the situation is “severely critical.”

Referring to the fact that thalassemia patients are waiting for blood transfusions and importing blood from other provinces is not possible, she warned that “with the blood reserve situation in Sistan and Baluchestan, there is not even the possibility of meeting needs for even one day under normal conditions.”

Increased Flights to Armenia

Following the increasing demand for travel to Armenia for free corona vaccination, Mohammad Zeibakhsh, spokesman of Iran Air Organization, said Armenia company will add two more flights to its flights next week and in total “11 flights per week will be operated from Armenia to Tehran.”

In recent days, some regional countries including Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and the UAE are providing free vaccines to foreign tourists, and many Iranians have turned to foreign countries due to the government’s delay and hesitation in vaccinating its citizens.

Currently, the cost of air travel to Armenia, according to domestic media reports, is estimated at between 8 to 20 million tomans based on hotel rates, but reports about vaccination at the Iran-Armenia border have also been published.

Masoud Mardani, member of the scientific committee of the National Corona Fight Headquarters, in an interview with IRNA news agency, criticizing the increase in travels to Armenia to receive free Astrazeneca vaccine, said “this vaccine can be provided to people for 200,000 tomans or at most 500,000 tomans.”

Regarding the private sector’s failure in vaccine imports, he explained that the Ministry of Health told private companies that if they import vaccines, they must be distributed through the Ministry of Health, and “they do not do this out of fear that they will not recover their capital.”

Source: Radio Farda