Corona in Iran: Tehran Hospital Capacity Reached, ‘Revival’ Ceremonies to Be Held

As the coronavirus pandemic situation in Iran continues to worsen, it was announced on Monday, April 12, that for the first time all cities in Tehran Province have been placed in a red alert status, and hospital bed capacity in Tehran Province has been exhausted.

On the same day, while the spokesperson for the National Coronavirus Task Force stated that if new restrictions are not observed, “we must expect four-digit death tolls,” Iran’s Health Minister announced that “Laylat al-Qadr Revival” ceremonies can be held in all cities.

According to the latest official statistics announced by the Ministry of Health, in the past 24 hours, 274 additional patients have died from coronavirus and 23,311 new cases have been identified.

Based on these figures, a total of 64,764 people have died from coronavirus in Iran so far, and the total number of infected persons has reached more than 2.09 million.

Previously, some official domestic sources, such as the Iranian Medical System Organization, estimated the actual figures for coronavirus deaths and infections in Iran to be three to four times higher than the official figures announced by the Ministry of Health.

Revival Ceremonies “Will Be Held in All Cities”

Despite these reports and the repeated emphasis by officials in recent days on the rapidly worsening coronavirus situation in Iran, Saeed Namaki, the Health Minister, wrote in a letter on Monday to the Deputy Minister of Health that revival ceremonies can be held “like last year in all cities.”

He requested that these ceremonies be held in cities “in appropriate spaces” and “for a maximum of two hours.”

Saeed Namaki acknowledged that in the holding of previous Friday prayers and religious ceremonies last year, “actions inconsistent with protocols were carried out by extremist groups outside the sphere of management.”

Regarding the non-observance of coronavirus protocols in religious ceremonies that he himself had referred to, he added that this issue “became propaganda material for groups outside the country so they could vilely exploit the pure sentiments of religious people.”

The Iranian Health Minister announced permission for “revival night” ceremonies in all Iranian cities while also stating in his Monday remarks that “holding Eid al-Fitr ceremonies in some regions of the country last year led to the emergence of a new wave in those provinces, and failure to prevent this phenomenon in the upcoming blessed Eid al-Fitr can create severe mutations of the virus.”

“We Must Expect Four-Digit Death Tolls”

Meanwhile, on Monday, Alireza Raisi, the spokesperson for the National Coronavirus Task Force, said that the official coronavirus death toll currently being announced relates to “Nowruz shopping before the beginning of the new year,” and if new restrictions are not observed, “we must expect four-digit death tolls.”

This official simultaneously warned about increasing daily coronavirus deaths to four digits or a thousand people per day, stating that legally announced restrictions are not being properly enforced in some provinces.

In recent days, the coronavirus task force’s management of Nowruz holidays has faced widespread criticism, and some Health Ministry officials say without naming names that opposition by certain individuals to imposing broad restrictions during Nowruz holidays has caused the coronavirus outbreak in Iran to spiral out of control.

At the same time, Alireza Zali, the operational commander of the coronavirus task force for Tehran Province, on Monday, noting that “speculations suggest next week is very concerning,” stated that “for the first time, all cities in Tehran Province have been placed in a red alert status.”

He explained that “there is undoubtedly a distinctive difference between the fourth wave of coronavirus and the third and second waves. The rate of disease wave growth has occurred at tremendous speed, incomparable to the second and third waves, and has quadrupled.”

Tehran Hospitals Have No More Space

Anushiravan Mohseni Bandpei, the Governor of Tehran, said on Monday evening in the second session of the Tehran Province coronavirus response command headquarters: “The capacity for coronavirus patients in Tehran Province hospitals is 6,691 people, and this capacity has been filled.”

He also described the spread of coronavirus in Tehran Province as “very rapid” and regarding the new statistics for the province, said that “these figures are much more concerning compared to the last month of the previous year.”

Mohseni Bandpei also discussed the vaccination process, saying that Tehran Province’s vaccine quota is inadequate relative to its population and “the fair system is to allocate vaccine quotas proportional to population.”

“We Hold the Health Minister Personally Responsible for the Deaths of Nurses”

On Monday, the Secretary-General of the Iranian Nursing House, in an interview with the news website “Rokna,” referring to the deaths of seven nursing staff members in less than a month across the country, emphasized that “we hold the Health Minister personally responsible for the deaths of these nurses and believe that even if these families do not file a complaint against the minister, he should still be tried.”

MohammadReza Sharifi Moghadam explained: “Because now, more than two months after vaccination of medical personnel began in Iran, the process of supplying and distributing these vaccines has been so inappropriate that a large portion of medical staff across the country has still not received the coronavirus vaccine.”

The Secretary-General of the Iranian Nursing House reported on nurses not being prioritized for vaccination, the inequitable distribution of “the small amount of vaccine that has entered the country,” and “violations by some private hospitals in Tehran regarding the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine.”

The Iranian Ministry of Health has not yet provided new statistics on the number of coronavirus vaccine recipients, who are currently medical system personnel, but last week’s figures show that only 161,000 people in Iran have received the vaccine.

The news website TradeNews reported that profiteers in Tehran are offering to provide coronavirus vaccines in exchange for 50 to 60 million tomans.

Source: Radio Farda