Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, December 24, 2020—Over 191,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 475 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 24. The official death toll declared by the regime stands at 54,308, about a third of the actual figure.
The coronavirus death toll in various provinces include: 46,926 in Tehran, 11,360 in Isfahan, 7708 in Lorestan, 7490 in Qom, 7402 in East Azarbaijan, 5842 in Fars, 5035 in Alborz, 4686 in Sistan & Baluchistan, 4121 in Kerman, 4036 in Kermanshah, 3988 in Markazi (Central), 3387 in Yazd, 3291 in Kurdistan, 2894 in Semnan, 1975 in Ilam, 1919 in Bushehr, and 1500 in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Infographic-PMOI-MEK reports over 191,000 coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths in Iran
“The Health Ministry is doing its best to procure vaccines, both domestically and from abroad. The people should be assured that as we did not allow the imposed sanctions to disrupt the country’s fight against Covid-19, vaccines will be provided to the people despite the sanctions and hindering measures by the U.S.,” claimed regime President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday in response to growing public anger over the regime’s refusal and delay in purchasing the vaccine. “Our noble people will without a doubt not fall for the exaggeration seen in foreign media. The same media outlets that have launched a psychological campaign since the beginning of this pandemic to exaggerate and highlight some of the states, including the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, in order to marginalize the country’s achievements and plans in the fight against Covid-19,” he ridiculously went on to say.
Head of the Iranian regime’s Central Bank reported on Thursday that $200 million has been allocated to procuring Covid-19 vaccine. However, the deputy coordinator of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) made interesting remarks on this topic.
“Considering the advice of experts and the poor history of those companies that are currently producing the Covid-19 vaccine, we are not advising the IRGC and Basij personnel to use foreign Covid-19 vaccines due to their certain procedures,” he said on Thursday. “We also will not take part in the public vaccination using imported vaccines. Of course, it is up to the Health Ministry to decide for the general public. However, if the domestically produced vaccine reaches the public vaccination stage, we will be more than willing to take part in this campaign,” he added, according to the Tabnak website, an outlet linked to former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaie.
“If we had the necessary accommodations it would be better to use our indigenous vaccine. However, we also need to procure foreign vaccines because currently it’s not possible to mass produce the domestic vaccine. For years the country’s vaccine production lines have come to a halt and we have been forced to import,” said Minoo Mohraz, a member of the National Covid-19 Task Force on Thursday, according to the Mehr news agency, an outlet linked to the regime's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
“Conditions in Tehran, as we have said time and again, despite the relative decrease in the death rate, should be considered as fragile and unstable,” said Alierza Zali, head of the Tehran Covid-19 Task Force on Thursday. “934 people are in ICUs. Conditions in most of our cities are still considered to be orange and such circumstances will continue for most of our cities in the coming weeks,” he added, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
“If this trend continues, we will witness a return to the red Covid-19 conditions and hospitals in Ardabil province being full of patients again,” said the dean of Ardabil Medical Sciences University on Thursday. “We forecast that in the next few days we will be witnessing a rise in the province’s coronavirus death rate,” the official added, according to the Mehr news agency.
“The number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise,” said the dean of Mazandaran Medical Sciences University on Thursday. “In the past 24 hours we have hospitalized 160 coronavirus patients. Currently there are 1081 such patients across the province, of which 227 are in ICUs,” the official added, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
“Yesterday we had 103 serious patients hospitalized with Covid-19 symptoms. Currently there are 523 coronavirus patients hospitalized across [Gilan] province, of which 20 percent are in dire conditions,” said the deputy dean of Gilan Medical Sciences University on Thursday, according to ISNA.
Iran coronavirus outbreak death toll interactive map
