Iran’s health workers said that the COVID-19 outbreak in the worst hit Middle Eastern country was out of control and “catastrophic”.
Tehran
Payam Tabresi, the head of Masih Daneshvari Hospital’s Infectious Department at one of Tehran’s largest hospitals said that there were over five thousand COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Tehran alone.
“When there are five thousand patients in the hospitals of only one city, means conditions are catastrophic. We will be hearing of many new deaths in the days to come,” he said.
In an interview with Hamshahri Daily, he blamed “the capital’s current crisis” on the “indifference” of officials.
According to Tabresi, a one-month shutdown of the capital would limit the epidemic. Though it is very unlikely that the regime would implement a shutdown due to economic reasons and its failure to give financial aid to Iranians.
Isfahan, central Iran
A Spokesperson of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences warned of a “double and triple increase” in the COVID-19 death toll adding that in case of an increase, the conditions would become “catastrophic.”
Arash Najimi said that the COVID-19 epidemic in Isfahan has become “crisis ridden” and that there were more than 250 emergency cases a day. He said that there were a limited number of ICU nurses and doctors who were worn out. Some had also been infected with COVID-19.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, there were an average of 164 patients in hospitals per day. Last week, the average number of patients increased to 312 people. There are queues for people who need to be admitted to hospitals,” he added.
Sanandaj, western Iran
Like other provinces in Iran, the death toll in Sanandaj has also increased. According to local reports, due to the high death toll and lack of space in cemeteries, mountains are being used to bury COVID-19 victims.
Death toll
According to Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, in the past seven months, the COVID-19 death toll has been a 3-digit figure, with 200 deaths on some days. This is even more than the Iran-Iraq war which had an average daily death toll of 68 people.
Massoud Mardani, a member of Iran’s National Influenza Committee said yesterday that he believed the real death toll in the COVID-19 outbreak was much higher than officially announced figures.
Iran’s Ministry of Health said today that the COVID-19 death toll was 27,419. However, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group that accuses the regime of lying about the number of deaths, said yesterday that the death toll was well over 116,500 in 450 cities, more than three times the official figures.
