Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, December 31, 2020—Over 195,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 478 cities checkered across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Thursday afternoon local time, December 31. The official death toll declared by the regime stands at 55,223 around a third of the actual figure.
The coronavirus death toll in various provinces include: 47,881 in Tehran, 13,265 in Razavi Khorasan, 11,945 in Isfahan, 9885 in Khuzestan, 7868 in Lorestan, 7412 in Mazandaran, 7263 in West Azarbaijan, 6916 in Gilan, 5965 in Fars, 4267 in Kerman, 4084 in Kermanshah, 4048 in Markazi (Central), 2392 in Ardabil, 2022 in Qazvin, and 1404 in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Infographic-PMOI/MEK reports over 195,000 coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths in Iran
While the number of Covid-19 fatalities closes in on the 200,000 mark, Iranians continue to witness hesitation, lies and contradictory remarks from regime officials over the coronavirus vaccine. Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff of regime President Hassan Rouhani, reported of a contract to purchase more than 20 million doses of a foreign vaccine. “We have launched measures to purchase the vaccine from different sources, including the World Health Organization and COVAX, China, India and Russia. We should not place all our eggs in the basket of three of four companies that have produced the vaccine as of today. The prices of the existing vaccines are somewhat expensive and, in the future, with production increasing, the price of the vaccine may decrease,” he said on Wednesday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
“The final production of our vaccine is not dependent on approval from the World Health Organization. We can seek international approval whenever we wish to launch production for exports,” said the director of the regime’s Health Ministry’s Public Relation Office on Thursday. “To this day we are cooperating with one other country. The second phase of a joint vaccine is ongoing with an institution in Cuba that has many years of experience in vaccine production. The third phase of this vaccine will be tested on 50,000 volunteers through the months of February and March,” he added, according to the state-controlled Arman daily.
Iranian regime's MP says #Iran's domestic #coronavirus vaccine will not resolve anythinghttps://t.co/jbKipGhq5l pic.twitter.com/SCorxOMjy7
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 21, 2020
“If all the clinical research are conducted and all the necessary steps taken, and all the standards that we are seeking are met, God willing we will be able to use the vaccine in mid-June or early July of 2021,” said Mohammad Hossein Yazdi, deputy chair of Iran’s Medical Sciences Center of Vaccine Research on Wednesday, according to state TV.
“After 313 days since Covid-19 entered Iran, we no longer have any time for trial and error. For us to return to life as normal and for our economy to not be affected, we have no choice but to provide the budget necessary to procure the vaccine,” said the head of Iran’s Medical Apparatus Organization on Thursday, according to the state-controlled Arman daily.
“We are concerned regarding the UK [strain] entering the country. The virus is behind the country’s gates,” said the spokesperson of the regime’s National Covid-19 Task Force on Thursday. “Respiratory viruses, despite all the precautions, enter all countries and we must be fully ready, especially during the winter. If we are not careful, we may witness the next peak in mid to late February,” this official added, according to the Javan daily, a newspaper linked to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
“Currently there are 122 patients in ICUs and during the past 24 hours we have lost 19 patients,” said the spokesperson for the Isfahan Medical Sciences University on Thursday, according to the Mehr news agency, an outlet linked to the regime's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
“The [Gilan] province is in serious and fragile conditions. Ten of our 16 cities are considered orange zones and the rest are red zones,” said the deputy dean of Gilan Medical Sciences University on Thursday, according to the regime's official IRNA news agency.
Over 1200 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Mazandaran province, according to the Mazandaran and Babol Medical Sciences University, and 209 patients are in ICUs, per a Wednesday report wired by the Mehr news agency.
“The number of Covid-19 fatalities in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmad province has increased and there is lesser hope of going from our orange status to yellow,” said the dean of Yasuj Medical Sciences University on Wednesday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Iran coronavirus outbreak death toll interactive map
