Corona in Iran; Increase in red provinces and the ambiguous situation of vaccination

The Iranian Ministry of Health's public relations office announced on Wednesday that 213 people have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Over 27,000 new cases were identified in the past 24 hours, including 2,755 hospitalizations.

The Ministry of Health of the Islamic Republic of Iran has published the country's new coronavirus color scheme on its news channel. Accordingly, 232 counties are in red, 117 counties are in orange, and 99 counties are in yellow.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus situation in Hormozgan province has been reported to be serious. Ali Raofi, spokesman for the provincial headquarters for combating coronavirus in Hormozgan, said that hospital beds in the province are saturated and the situation in most areas is red.

He added that the traffic restrictions plan is being implemented in the area in accordance with the guidelines of the Center for Combating Corona. Raofi explained that traffic with any non-native license plates and between cities and villages in Hormozgan province is prohibited.

The spokesperson for the Coronavirus Response Headquarters in Hormozgan stated that nighttime curfew regulations will also be implemented in this province, and travel is prohibited from 12:00 PM to 3:00 AM. According to this official, travel to the islands of Hormozgan has also been prohibited.

However, Raofi said that vaccination of people over the age of 18 is being implemented in the province, except for the islands of Kish and Qeshm, and Hormozgan province is ahead of the country in vaccination based on age priority.

Vaccination status

While criticism of the coronavirus vaccination situation in the country is increasing, Saeed Namaki, the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic, has said that "the Ministry of Health is not responsible for importing vaccines."

"In which country is the health minister responsible for bringing the vaccine [...] the health ministry is responsible for the injections," he said in Lorestan province on Tuesday.

Namaki, while referring to the "overcoming of the four terrible waves of Corona," stated: "In these difficult and tense times of economic hardship, this empathy and consensus between us and the armed forces, the people, and popular institutions, allowed us to pass through the four waves in such a way that not even a single patient was left behind in the hospitals."

According to him, the country's vaccination has exceeded 400,000 people, which he said is "a new record and a source of pride." Namaki added: "Our plan was to be able to vaccinate people over 65 and terminally ill patients by the end of the government, who account for 85 percent of Covid deaths. Today, I am announcing that by the end of August, we will vaccinate the entire population over 60."

Importing vaccines from Japan and China

Meanwhile, Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, announced in a Twitter message that new shipments of vaccines are on the way from China and Japan.

He wrote in his tweet: "With the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic service, shipments of vaccines licensed for use in Iran will be sent from Japan and China to Iran in the coming days." He added that imports of the coronavirus vaccine will continue.

This is while the Russian Sputnik vaccine production line has also been questionable. Recently, Alireza Raisi, spokesman for the Corona Headquarters, said that the production line that Russia provided to the Islamic Republic is practically useless. After these statements, Kazem Jalali, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Russia, claimed that the words of the health ministry official were "distorted".

Source: DW