Coronavirus in Iran: Death toll expected to increase in "the next four weeks"

While limited coronavirus vaccination is set to begin in Iran on Tuesday, February 11, Masoud Mardani, a member of the National Headquarters for Combating Coronavirus, has said, referring to the increase in infections: "We will see a resurgence in coronavirus deaths in the country in about four weeks."

Mr. Mardani told IRNA that in "most provinces of the country" we are witnessing an increase in people's visits, and if the new period is accompanied by a "mutated virus" of the coronavirus, "the number of cases and mortality rates will be higher."

He also mentioned the decrease in compliance with protocols, the increase in domestic travel, the holding of cultural festivals such as Fajr, the reopening of businesses and offices, and the increase in foreign travel as issues that have led to a "kind of normalization" in the country.

Mohammad Talebpour, head of Sina Hospital, has also said that we should "expect a dangerous phase of the disease" of the coronavirus, and he estimated the time of this phase to be "late February."

He emphasized that the coronavirus disease "is currently a fire under the ashes, and if it flares up, it could be very widespread."

In another statement, the president of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences warned on Sunday, February 10, about the rise of the coronavirus in Khuzestan Province.

Farhad Abolnejadian said that according to statistics and surveys, the new surge of the coronavirus in Khuzestan Province is "even more intense" than the first surge.

He did not provide statistics in this regard, but the IRNA news agency reported on Saturday, citing Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzestan, that hospitalizations due to the coronavirus outbreak in Khuzestan had increased from 85 people per day to 260, equivalent to a threefold increase.

Local authorities in Kermanshah and Hormozgan provinces have also reported a rapid increase in the number of patients in these provinces.

Mahmoud Hosseinpour, vice president of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, has said that "Coronavirus is having a new outbreak in the villages of the province" and has cited "wedding ceremonies, mourning, travel, and family visits" as the cause of this crisis.

Alireza Zali, commander of the coronavirus countermeasures operation in the Tehran metropolis, also described the statistical changes related to the coronavirus in the capital as "serious" on Sunday and announced an increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus in Tehran in the coming weeks.

According to the latest official statistics from the Ministry of Health, more than 1.47 million people in Iran have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 58,500 people have died.

The Ministry of Health's official statistics on the coronavirus have always been subject to doubt, and officials from the Medical System Organization have estimated the actual number of victims in Iran to be three to four times the officially announced number.

Source: Radio Farda