Thread by @aliostad

Day 72 and 73 - #COVID19 coverage in Iran

Picking up from 2 days ago

As you know:

[Current Outlook]

We ARE in the second wave of the #COVID19. Overall it has not been ad bad as the first one, while things in Khuzestan province stays still pretty desperate.

Rest of the country in-between declining trend and a relatively contained second wave.

Mazandaran (3M) was one of the first provinces with a confirmed second wave (especially in the town of Babol with 250K population) while had a very bad first wave too.

I do not see much more news on that. I hope it means things are under control and improving.

Things in Khuzestan province (4.7M) are pretty desperate while authorities deny a full disaster, as the governor saying out of 180 ICU beds only 140 are occupied.

We hope those extra 40 stay empty but doctors could be thinking twice of using them.

Meanwhile, to help the situation, the governor has shut down 9 towns (including city of Ahvaz) in the province for 6 days:

- Ahvaz 1.2M
- Dezful 265K
- Masjed-e-Soleyman 100K
- Shushtar 102K
- Hendijan
- Hoveyzeh
- Hamidiyeh
- Bavi
- Karun

Officials now say the trend is a rising one across many towns and provinces - but they have been saying it is downward across the country??

Hard to know. They say it is rising even in Tehran (9M) [wat?? but it was declining??].

As I had said, both traffic jams and activities as well as the familiar air pollution returning back to almost normal in Tehran.

These are photos from what it looks like now in public transport (Metro and BRT shuttle buses).

There were some earlier reports that schools would be opened today but now authorities say it will start from next Saturday.

[deleted earlier tweet, wrong link]

isna.ir/news/990221151…

Pedram Soltani, Ex-deputy of Chamber of Commerce in Iran believes #COVID19 will reduce non-oil exports by 30%. Iran's oil export is under sanction by US making non-oil exports main stream of revenue.

By the way, Pedram and I were classmates in med school!
isna.ir/news/990221152…

Already there is a fear of another widespread unrest due to #COVID19 economic impact on already poverty stricken public.

Even Khatami, ex-President, released a video today warning that citizens' despair can result in violent riots.

(Photo by @marzieh_peyman)

Previous unrest in November last year was violently suppressed. Still number of deaths not known, some sources say 1500. #IranProtest

In a recent move, head of the Police has been changed, with the newly appointed with history of heavy handed clampdowns.

This is the queue for cheaper subsidised rice in Mahabad (168K) with no social distancing. Many especially in smaller towns and city margins are in dire financial situation.

With international flights almost non-existent, airport taxis are protesting against not having unemployment benefits.

There are ongoing protests and sit-ins by many workers who either been made redundant or not received their salaries for months.

As I said, reformists (including ex-President Khatami) have been raising concerns around the next wave of unrest.

With Iran-US tensions in a confused status - with recent reports today Iran is about to negotiate - Iranians following Iraq developments. This is Baghdad today:

[non-COVID]
Iranians know that their money has been spent in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to create an expensive influence in the region which could be used as a bargain chips in any negotiation.

Yet Iran's influence in all three has recently been made ineffective:

1) There are reports that Iran is has pulled out 2/3 of its forces out from Syria. Israel has been bombarding them almost every night
2) Lebanon is bankrupt and anti-Iran sentiments rising and Hizbollah weaker.
3) Iraq government has just been formed and less Iran-friendly

[Non-COVID]
More on these subjects:

Khatami speech:
en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s-ex-pr…

Supreme Leader's recent peaceful gestures:
en.radiofarda.com/a/irgc-linked-…

Going back to #COVID, Dr. Mohraz confirms numbers in Tehran rising:

Short:
- Some high risk jobs opening next week
- 10% of Daneshvari hospital's med staff got infected
- A member of assembly of experts says media inciting fear is a conspiracy against people attend mosques
- An anaesthetist expelled from a flight for protesting lack of distancing

In my previous thread I shared a news on Afghan migrants tortured and thrown to the river by Border guards.

Here is more information [numbers dead are 15 not 50]

This has resulted in anti-Iranian sentiments in Afghanistan.

Here Afghans in a town bordering Iran attacking Iranian trucks importing goods from Iran.

Back to economy, an MP and member of economic committee in Iran Parliament says 800K have registered for unemployment benefits but the benefit has not been paid to anyone yet.

Stock price of a fund related to social security has been soaring (شستا).

https://t.co/Hk20LsfKIQ

I had reported a rising trend in Lorestan province (1.75M) a couple of days ago. Since then officials say only Tehran and Khuzestan have a rising trend.

Well, another news confirming the trend is still a rising one in Lorestan.

Abadan (230K), a city in Khuzestan, has gone into complete lockdown and the road from Mahshahr and Ahvaz into this city has been closed.

While all attention is on deaths and National Register Office has released numbers under pressure, number of births show signs of deep economical and social problems: births are down by 13% while Supreme Leader has asked for larger population.

iranintl.com/%D8%A7%D9%8A%D…

In case you have not heard, security experts have reported of hackers linked to Iranian government attacking Gilead Pharma, makers of anti-COVID Remdecivir.

forbes.com/sites/sergeikl…

Time to leave you tonight with this heartbreaking report. Education Ministry in Iran has developed an app for virtual education during #COVID19. But not many can afford to use it.

This is a snippet of a larger report by Hamed Hadian, a very conservative reporter.

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