[Current Outlook]
The scale and spread of this 3rd wave is horrific, because of the synchronicity caused by Ashura ceremonies. Stress signals from hospitals around the country running out of beds, ERs overflowing with COVID, staff going offsick... total mayhem.
Metrics that I normally follow all are approaching all time highs. Patients currently admitted in Qom (1.2M) reached 715 from 630 in a matter of two days. Not from its all time high at around 900.
Another metric is number of patients in critical care which is not at 3922, little away from 4150 - its all time high.
I normally ignore official figures but for what it is worth, today we broke the number of identified cases with ~3700 new PCR confirmed cases.
The hospitals overflowing now and they cannot take more patients. And in times like this, we get rows and occasionally altercation in hospitals... people are desperate.
In my previous thread I covered 3rd wave In Khuzestan (4.7M). Due to high number of infected students, a special committee has been set up in this province [to investigate and find solutions].
Unfortunately number of daily admissions in Tehran (another key metric) has not been announced for a few days now but it has been reported such cases have doubled in Tehran (9M) and Qom.
"When I arrived in the hospital today, there were almost no nurse or health-care assistant left. Many staff are now positive and in quarantine. Wards are now managed with minimum staff."
There are reports that due to explosion of COVID cases and shortage of hospital beds, officials have asked [designated] hospitals to avoid admitting non-COVID patients.
In addition to COVID, we had some heavy flooding in the north which in terms of severity was high but luckily it was limited to a single area: Taalesh in Gilan.
Here is a pedestrian bridge collapsing [thankfully no casualties reported]:
Flood waters in Taalesh have dangerously emptied the ground underneath this park with gaping holes engulfing the pavement. Locals watching with a mixture of shock and amusement.
It then, however, turned out to be the work of Islamic Republic's own intelligence ministry. They finally accepted that an "autonomous cell" within the ministry led by Saied Emami had gone rogue and planned and executed the attack.
With that in the back of Iranian minds, terrorist attack on Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz was immediately dismissed as the work of the Islamic Republic itself, especially considering the timing (protests).
But it is undeniable that ISIS has claimed responsibility and released 👇
Today, dozens of cities around the world will witness human chains of Iranians extending for miles.
This has been planned for London too, sadly I do not feel well enough to go.
After weeks and weeks of reactive handling of the protests in the hope of them fizzling out, today the regime is planning to use today's burial procession of Shiraz terrorist attack victims to take the initiative back again.
IRGC Commander again declared the end of protests.
As you can see from the images above, even for a neutral event where everyone would condemn such cowardly terrorist attack (and I do too), the regime failed to bring masses to the street.
Believe me I chose busiest pics, check them for yourself.
#BREAKING The country is in turmoil and it feels like the regime is losing the grip - which is not necessarily good news since this might mean we enter a military phase.
People are reported to be in control of Town of Mahabad in Kurdistan
Funny thing is that taghvim.com website used commonly by Iranians says today is 30th of Rabi al-Awwal. All other calendars say today is 1st of Rabi-ali-Thaani.
It cannot be ISIS!
My Arab followers, can you please tell me what day it is according to Hijri calendar?
Some calendars I found say 28th, some 29th, some 1st ...
#IranProtests2022 5th week of incessant protests (29th day) starting today with reports of ongoing protests in Karaj, Rashst, Hamedan and Shahinshahr.
It is 1:30 PM local time.
This is students today in Sanandaj.
In Ardabil where a high school student was allegedly beaten to death (we have not yet been able to confirm or disprove) protesters have clashed with the security forces.