Beginning of Fifth Wave of Corona; Namaki: World is Amazed at How We Managed to Control This Disease
Saeed Namaki, Iran’s Minister of Health and Medical Education, warned on Tuesday, the fifth day of Mordad, referring to the numerous trips made by citizens during the Eid al-Adha holiday days, that if health protocols continue not to be observed, there is little hope of escaping the red situation in most cities across the country.
Iran is struggling with the fifth wave of the coronavirus, which according to official statistics has claimed 354 lives in just the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, vaccination of citizens is proceeding slowly, with less than 8 million and 500 people having received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine so far, and approximately 2 million and 500 thousand people having received the second dose, with the total number of vaccines administered in the country reaching approximately 10 million and 971 thousand doses.
According to Mr. Namaki, Iranian society is currently “at the peak of the fifth wave” and “non-compliance with protocols and multiple trips are making it difficult to control the fifth peak.”
With the surge in coronavirus cases, Tehran was closed for six days, but the spread of this virus has not yet decreased, as the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday the identification of nearly 35 thousand patients.
However, the Minister of Health made contradictory statements in a meeting of the Supreme Policy Council of the commanders of the armed forces, claiming that the disease has been brought under control in the country.
Saeed Namaki said: “The world that was prepared for the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this heavy blow of coronavirus is amazed today at how we were able, by God’s grace, to both control the disease and produce appropriate medicines and equipment, and how we were able to take effective steps in building a vaccine on five to six platforms.”
This claim comes as, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health’s own reports, currently 232 cities are in red status, 117 cities are in orange status, and approximately 100 cities are in yellow status.
Iran says it is working on several coronavirus vaccines. However, so far only the “Cov-Iran Barkat” vaccine, a product of the “Imam’s Executive Headquarters,” has reached the stage of public use, although its production is still not widespread and its effectiveness is shrouded in ambiguity.
The “Nura” vaccine is another one of these vaccines and a product of “Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences” affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, announced on Tuesday that the human and clinical testing phase of this vaccine has been “successfully” completed.
He stated: “The Nura vaccine is also one of the most important phenomena and achievements of ours, and the human and clinical testing phase of the vaccine was successfully completed, and now our friends are ready to implement the second phase of this work so that, God willing, it reaches the production stage.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously tried to take the initiative and introduce itself as a leader in the fight against the coronavirus. One of the most publicized of these initiatives was Hossein Salami’s unveiling of a device called “Virusfinder Mostaaan,” which not only was its effectiveness never proven, but social media users ridiculed it.
Source: Radio Farda
