Over 498,300 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 547 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 Monday afternoon local time, January 17. The official death toll declared by the regime stands at 132,095, around a fourth of the actual figure.
The coronavirus death toll in various provinces include: 116,385 in Tehran, 34,535 in Isfahan, 18,793 in West Azerbaijan, 17,275 in Gilan, 16,470 in Lorestan, 14,523 in Alborz, 13,452 in Kerman, 6393 in North Khorasan, 6350 in Ardabil, and 3870 in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
The regime’s Health Ministry announced the mullahs’ engineered Covid-19 numbers from the past 24 hours on Monday as 20 deaths and 3163 new cases. Furthermore, 1313 patients are in ICUs and 338 of the new cases have been hospitalized.
“Around 40 percent of the coronavirus cases that are spreading are of the omicron variant. The percentage of omicron cases and the number of patients are on the rise, and it appears that we have received a signal for the sixth wave. If the status quo stands, next week omicron will be the main variant across the country,” said the secretary of the Coronavirus Epidemiology Committee on Monday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
“We have entered the sixth wave”
In around three to four weeks we will reach the peak. Currently this variant is taking the delta variant’s place,” said Minoo Mohraz, a senior member of the National Covid-19 Task Force on Monday, according to the state-run Hamshahri daily.
“From about a month ago, considering the various indexes we have, we have seen an increase in the number of new cases. The reason for that is the omicron variant. Based on our forecasts, we will probably have an escalating number of new cases and if we neglect the depth of this issue, we will enter the sixth coronavirus peak,” said Babak Eshrati, an epidemiologist in Iran Medical University on Monday, according to the Fars news agency, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
The caretaker of Ahvaz Medical Sciences University warned of an increasing number of omicron cases in Khuzestan province. “The number of new cases involving the mutated omicron variant is increasing in Khuzestan province in an expansive nature. The attention of the highest officials is needed in order to tackle this extremely important and concerning matter,” he warned on Monday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
“172 people in the cities under the umbrella of Isfahan Medical Sciences University have contracted omicron. From this week to the next the omicron variant will become the main coronavirus variant in Isfahan province,” said the spokesperson of Isfahan Medical Sciences University on Monday, according to the Mehr news agency, an outlet linked to the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
