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Sanctions-battered Iran faces worst coronavirus wave

Economic pressure has many people simply giving up on social distancing, considering it an unaffordable luxury.

A nurse tends to a patient infected by COVID-19 at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
By AP
Published On 25 Apr 2021

As Iran faces what looks like its worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic yet, Tehran commuters still pour into its subway system and buses each working day, even as images of the gasping ill are repeatedly shown on state television each night.

After facing criticism for downplaying the virus last year, Iranian authorities put partial lockdowns and other measures back in place to slow its spread.

But in this nation of 84 million people, which faces crushing US sanctions, many struggle to earn enough to feed their families.

Economic pressure, coupled with the growing uncertainty over when vaccines will be widely available in the country, have many simply giving up on social distancing, considering it an unaffordable luxury. That has public health officials worried the worst of the pandemic still may be yet to come.

Worst-hit

Iran is now reporting its highest-ever new coronavirus case numbers — more than 25,000 a day. Its daily death toll has surged to about 400, still below the grim record of 486 it reached in November.

During the peak of Iran’s last surge, about 20,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalised across the country. Today, that figure has topped 40,000. The health ministry warns the number will climb to 60,000 in the coming weeks. Iran remains among the hardest-hit countries in the world and the worst-hit in the Middle East.

President Hassan Rouhani blames the current surge on the fast-spreading variant of the virus first found in Britain, which the government says arrived from neighbouring Iraq. Travel between the countries has been restricted since March, though people continue to cross each day.

Overall, Iran has seen 2.2 million reported cases and 67,000 deaths.

Iran has administered more than 500,000 vaccine doses, according to the WHO. Supplies, however, remain limited.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned the US and British-made coronavirus vaccines, saying their import is “forbidden” because he does not trust those nations.

Khamenei has approved the import of vaccines from “safe” countries, such as China and Russia, and backed national efforts to produce a homegrown vaccine with help from Cuba.

During the peak of Iran's last surge, about 20,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalised in Iran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
Patients are treated at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. There are more than 40,000 coronavirus victims hospitalised across the country. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
The health ministry warned the number of hospitalised patients affected by COVID-19 will climb to 60,000 in the coming weeks. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
A COVID-19 patient is treated at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
Hospital workers move bodies of patients who died from COVID-19 at Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
Cemetery workers prepare bodies for burial. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
A cemetery worker prepares the body of a person who died from coronavirus at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery just outside Tehran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
A relative hugs the body of a person who died from COVID-19 at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
Mourners pray over the body of a person who died from COVID-19. Overall, Iran has seen 2.2 million reported cases and 67,000 deaths. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
Workers lay cinder-block rows for new graves at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]
A heart-shaped balloon and a bouquet of roses adorn the bed of a man who died from COVID-19 at the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. [Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo]