Covid-19 crisis in Iran; Head of the Islamic Republic’s Medical Council: Are those who issued statement on banning the import of vaccine, accountable today?
10-August-2021
Category: Uncategorized
9-August-2021
Newsgroup: Uncategorized –
Breathing in Confinement: According to the official statistics released by the Covid-19 headquarter, yesterday an unprecedented number of over 40,000 new patients were registered and 542 people died because of the disease. This is despite the fact that the officials of Iran’s Medical Council have repeatedly stated that the real figures are more than the released numbers.
The head of the Medical Council reiterated that the actual numbers of Covid-19 new patients, as well as the death tolls were higher than the announced figures. He also criticized those who ” issued a statement on banning the import of vaccine.”
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, on Sunday evening, August 8, referring to the unprecedented number of newly registered Covid-19 patients as well as its death toll in Iran, wrote in a tweet: “The number of tests performed has decreased, so the actual number of patients is far more than what is being announced.”
Mr. Zafarghandi referring to the “mortality rate reduction in the countries where unrestricted vaccination has been performed,” said that: “Are those who issued statement on banning the import of vaccine, accountable today?”
In January 2020, Ali Khamenei announced that the importation of American and British vaccines into the country was “prohibited” and that domestic vaccines should not be “ignored.”
The slow pace of vaccination, along with the widespread outbreak of delta variant of coronavirus, which has led to the recent crisis in the country, has caused concern among citizens and criticism by some officials. However, Islamic Republic Authorities insisting on import of the Chinese, Russian and Indian vaccines, have removed US and British vaccines from the import list.
Meanwhile on Monday, the secretary general and spokesman for the Red Crescent Society, Mohammad Hassan Qousian Moghaddam, criticized what he called “sabotaging,” and said: “if we received the funds, 30 million doses of vaccine would be soon imported to the country.”
Karim Hemmati, head of the Iran’s Red Crescent Society, said on Saturday that the Society had announced its readiness to import the vaccine by the end of 2020. However the Ministry of Health agreed to the request on April 3, 2021, a few days after which the first shipment of the vaccine arrived.
Hamid Souri, the Chairman of the National Committee of Covid-19 Epidemiology, in a report published by Hamshahri newspaper on Monday, criticized the management of the epidemic in the country and said: “We do not see any serious action being taken against Covid-19 in the country. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, there has been neither will nor determination on resolving the issue.”
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health on Sunday, August 8, the daily death toll rose to a record of 524, and the registered cases reached the unprecedented number of 40,000 per day, the highest number recorded since the beginning of the Covid-19 in Iran.