Iran's coronavirus cases increase by 6,000 in one day
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iran has risen sharply in a single day, surpassing the 23,000 mark compared to the previous day. The situation in some areas is described as “super-critical,” and criticism of the health minister has become more intense than ever.
The fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is spreading more severely than predicted in Iran, and the inefficiency and failure to fulfill the promises of the Minister of Health have faced increasing criticism.
The Ministry of Health's Information Center announced on Thursday, July 8 (June 8), that 23,391 new cases of coronavirus infection have been identified in Iran in the past 24 hours and 136 patients with COVID-19 have lost their lives.
Thus, the number of new infections has increased by more than six thousand in one day, approaching the highest level during the peak days of the fourth wave of the pandemic in late April and early May.
Ninefold increase in red cities in three weeks
The rapid spread of the fifth wave of the pandemic is also evident in the coronavirus color map of cities. By the end of the third week of August, 13 cities were in red (very high risk) status, a number that has been increasing rapidly since the beginning of July and has increased more than 9-fold yesterday.
Hossein Farshidi, president of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, calls the situation in Bandar Abbas extremely critical and says that new hospitalizations have doubled compared to the peak of the previous wave, reaching eight thousand people.
Severe bed shortage in Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan
According to ISNA news agency, Farshidi told reporters on Thursday morning that if the number of infected people continues to increase in the same way, the death rate will also increase starting next week.
He says that in some hospitals, the capacity of intensive care units (ICUs) has been reached and "we are facing a severe shortage of beds in hospitals in the province."
According to reports, hospitals and medical centers in Sistan and Baluchestan are also facing a shortage of beds to accommodate coronavirus patients, and according to the Secretary General of the Red Crescent Society, the province is also experiencing a shortage of medicines and coronavirus diagnostic kits.
Ahmad Ali Mohabati, the governor of Sistan and Baluchestan, said a week ago that currently 10 counties in the province do not have hospitals, and in some cases people have to travel more than 100 kilometers to reach the hospital.
Similar statements have been repeated by other provincial officials, and many photos have been published online showing patients receiving treatment in the hospital corridor or outside.
Strong criticism of the Minister of Health
Saeed Namaki, the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic, on Monday, following increasing criticism of the lack of hospital facilities in Sistan and Baluchestan, called the criticism "riot, slander, and sedition" and claimed that there are at least 300 to 400 empty beds in this province.
The Health Minister's remarks were met with anger from citizens and a sharp reaction from some provincial representatives in the parliament. Moinuddin Saeedi, a Chabahar representative, told Namaki: "What kind of riot? The fact that we have less than 300 beds in the south of Sistan and Baluchestan from the Jask to Rask area is a riot? The fact that there is not even an infectious disease ward in this area is a riot? The fact that we only have one infectious disease specialist is a riot? The queue of people waiting for an empty bed at the hospital is a riot? No, none of this is a riot, all of this is reality."
The governor of Sistan and Baluchestan also said last week: "There are two general practitioners in a city of 55,000 people; we have health centers that do not have cars, and there is a distance of 1,250 kilometers between our two health centers in the province, while many positions in the province's health care sector are vacant."
In a sharp criticism of the Minister of Health, the Khorasan newspaper reminded him of his unfulfilled promises in recent months, such as turning Iran into an exporter of coronavirus vaccines by May or vaccinating 14 million people by July 1, and wrote to Saeed Namaki: "Mr. Minister, talk less!"
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Health, from the start of vaccination on February 11 to July 8, a total of slightly more than six million, 608,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered, and the number of people who have been fully vaccinated is no more than two million, 90,000.
Source: DW
