Report in August 2021

Zahra Karimi, Ph.D.
Academic Staff, University of Mazandaran (Iran)
Aug. 25, 2021

Iran is located in the west Asia in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Iran was hit by Corona virus in early 2020. There is no precise and transparent data about deaths since the outbreak of Corona Virus pandemic. Yet some studies that collected data from cemeteries around the country showed that the death from Covid -19 is about 2.5 times more that official data.

In the past 24 hours 40,623 new cases was confirmed and 5487 persons were hospitalized because of serious Corona virus infection. At present 7727 Covid patients are in ICU. According to official data, till today (Aug. 25, 2021) Iran has 4,756,000 confirmed cases of infection by Corona Virus, and the deaths of Covid -19 is 103357. Only in the past 24 hours, 709 deaths is reported, highest record since the outbreak. So, unofficial death is more than 1500 death per day and the total death is more than 250,000. It is a real catastrophe. During Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) about 190,000 persons lost their lives, and in the past 18 months Covid deaths is about 60,000 more than the war victims.

Iran has the highest death rate of Covid in the world now. Iranians are very angry about inefficiency of government measures to control the pandemic. Responsible institutions prevented the import of vaccines and did not try to ban religious gathering. It was publicized that Iranian vaccines will be supplied very soon and in sufficient quantity. There were protests against this policy by the public, specialists and academicians and it took very long time for disillusion and acceptance of the need to import approved vaccines by these decision making institutions. There is no doubt that the delay in purchasing vaccines and the continuing political and religious gathering are the main causes of the corona virus pandemic crisis in Iran now.

It must be mentioned that US sanctions against Iran which prevent Iran to have banking transaction with other countries also created obstacles in importing vaccines and the necessary medicine. Huge number of deaths in Iran could be avoided by effective measures of the government and better cooperation of international community.

Iran spent considerable amount of money to produce domestic vaccine (Cov-Iran Barekat) but by now Barekat could not get the confirmation of WHO. Only limited number of Barekat vaccines are supplied in urban and rural areas. Most Iranians prefer to be vaccinated by internationally confirmed vaccines. It seems that mass production of Cov-Iran Barekat is not possible, as the main ingredient of the product must be imported. The government is going to import 120 million doses vaccines in the next three months. A few months ago Iran even rejected the humanitarian aids of other countries for donation of vaccine and medical equipment. Now it appreciates any help to solve the pandemic crisis.

One of the most important problems for controlling the pandemic was the limitation of financial ability of the government to support the lockdown. Government offices were closed during the peak of the crisis, but private firms could not be obliged to stop their work because the government is not able to help them. Sometimes restaurants were banned to serve inside but they were allowed to sell to customers to take food to their home. But after a while, restaurants started their usual services. The half-hearted measures have not been successful to control the pandemic. So, there was no complete lockdown in Iran by now. To prevent unnecessary travels in big cities and around the country, there are high fines for driving cars in Tehran streets in the late night. In the past 2 weeks, due to a rise in the death tolls of Covid, travel between provinces were banned and police prevented exit of cars from big cities. There is no fine for not wearing mask, but no one can enter into government offices without masks. It is formally forbidden to enter into stores without masks and social distancing is strictly recommended, but it is not fully followed, especially by the youths.

In 2020, the government offered financial help and also a small amount of money (about USD 50) as a loan to vulnerable households but it was not sufficient to cover the loss of income after the pandemic. Charities are active to help the vulnerable groups, by providing financial help or medicine. As schools are closed, students attend virtual classes need to have smart phones. Charities also try to provide computer tablets for students in low income families, especially in remote and deprived regions.

Ordinary citizens are frustrated of losing their income by useless controls, as the number of deaths has been increasing in the summer despite the optimistic prediction that the country will fight the pandemic by home-made vaccine.

Due to high inflation and declining real income, demand for commodities by poor households is decreasing. But from time to time, the shortage of some goods, like lemon and carrot that are deemed helpful against the virus, their very high prices becomes new problems.

PCR and antibody testing are used for diagnosing the sick patients and they are free of charge in public hospitals and clinics. But if someone wants to do the test in private entities, he/she must pay relatively high costs of testing. In recent weeks the new variant of the virus (Delta) is spread widely and no one can be sure to be immune evenby receiving two doses of vaccines.

About 21 percent of the population (more than 17.2 million persons) had received the first dose of vaccine and only 7.5 percent (about 6.5 million persons) got the second dose. Different kinds of internationally accepted vaccines, such as Sputnik, Sinopharm and AstraZeneca are used in Iran. Cov-Iran Barekat also is administered, but its share is not high. Vaccination is free of charge.

Iranian traditional medicine is very popular and there were many discussions about the usefulness of traditional medicine against Covid. By now, there is no formally approved traditional medicine but many use traditional medicine to prevent or cure Covid.