Tehran City Council Member: Coronavirus Has Claimed Over Ten Thousand Lives in Tehran
According to a member of Tehran’s City Council, the number of coronavirus deaths in Tehran accounts for nearly 50 percent of official death tolls across Iran. A senior official states that Iran is one of three countries in the world with the highest infection rate among medical personnel.
The Ministry of Health under Hassan Rouhani’s government, which publishes the latest statistics on coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths daily, has refrained for months from publishing detailed statistics broken down by provinces and cities across Iran.
Meanwhile, statements by some local officials fuel distrust in the official nationwide statistics. One example is the statements by members of Tehran’s City Council, who announce the number of coronavirus deaths in the city based on information received from cemeteries.
According to Fars News Agency, Nahid Khodakarmi, head of the Health Committee of Tehran’s City Council, said in a notice before the order of the second session of the council on the first of Shahrivar regarding coronavirus death tolls: “Until yesterday, within six months, 10,200 residents of Tehran have lost their lives.”
Based on official statistics from the Ministry of Health, until Saturday, the first of Shahrivar, the number of COVID-19 victims across Iran was 20,502.
Half of coronavirus victims in Tehran?
By this calculation, nearly half of coronavirus deaths occurred in the metropolis of Tehran, with a population of approximately 8.7 million people, while Iran’s total population is estimated at 84 million.
Given the healthcare and medical facilities in the capital, which are incomparable to many other parts of Iran, it would be expected that deaths from a similar disease in the capital would be lower than in other cities.
Six months after the official confirmation of the first coronavirus cases in Iran, medical centers face numerous challenges, with the most significant being described as “exhaustion” of medical personnel.
Extremely high infection rates among medical personnel
Aliresa Zali, commander of Tehran’s coronavirus response headquarters, said on Sunday, the second of Shahrivar, while warning about this situation: “Comparative statistics show that Iran, the United States, and Russia are three countries where, in absolute terms, the infection rate of medical personnel is higher.”
Zali told Mehr News Agency that “chronic fatigue processes” among medical personnel cause a reduction in their body’s immune and defensive levels, and due to “the attrition nature of COVID-19,” individuals’ motivation to use protective equipment decreases.
Aliresa Salimi, deputy for education and research at the Medical System Organization, says that given the increase in coronavirus cases and the hospitalization of COVID-19 patients in recent days, conditions for medical personnel have become “more acute” and cases among them are very high.
Six thousand infected among Tehran’s medical personnel
According to ILNA News Agency, Aliresa Salimi said on the 15th of Mordad, noting that the situation in the capital has worsened, that approximately six thousand medical personnel in Tehran have been infected with coronavirus, and so far 150 of them have lost their lives.
This situation in other cities and provinces of Iran is also proportionally similar. Mohammad Karimian, head of Ilam University of Medical Sciences, recently reported that 657 employees of the health and medical sector in that province had contracted COVID-19. Ilam province has a population of less than 600,000.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health has repeatedly warned in recent days and weeks about medical personnel fatigue, calling it “one of the concerns and pressing issues of these days.”
Sima Sadat Lari, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Health, announced at her press briefing today, Sunday, that in the past 24 hours, 2,113 new cases of coronavirus were identified and 141 COVID-19 patients died.
26 provinces remain in red alert status
According to Iran’s Ministry of Health statistics, in recent days, coronavirus cases and deaths have shown declining fluctuations, although the ministry’s spokesperson says that 15 Iranian provinces remain in red alert status and 11 provinces in warning status.
Until today, the second of Shahrivar, the total number of coronavirus cases in Iran has reached 358,905, and the death toll has reached 20,643.
Aliresa Zali announced Iran alongside the United States and Russia as having the highest infection rates among medical personnel, while these two countries are recognized as among the most affected countries in the world with COVID-19.
According to statistics from the American Johns Hopkins University, cases in the United States have reached nearly 5.67 million and in Russia over 954,000. The United States has the highest infection rate in the world, and Russia ranks fourth.
Source: DW
