Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health Iraj Harirchi announced that the whole country is in the red zone and the colors of red and orange and green have no meaning anymore. 

Harirchi’s comments come a day after the director of the coronavirus Taskforce in Tehran announced the third wave of coronavirus in the capital and said more serious intervention is required in order to stop the increasing spread of the virus. 

Harirchi added that there are currently 35,500 hospitalized coronavirus patients in Iran which shows a 10 percent increase compared with the first wave of coronavirus in the country. 

He also reported that the number of hospitalized patients in the past week has increased significantly and the number of COVID-19 patients in Tehran has doubled. 

“Currently, 700 to 800 patients are hospitalized each day but only 450 to 500 are released. 

According to Harirchi the situation in many provinces of Iran including Tehran is at crisis level and mentioned as an example that the number of patients being hospitalized in Tabriz was under 40 a day and it is now over 160, and in the city of Qom where it was at 10 patients, it is now at 160 a day.

“Coronavirus is like a stormy sea and we are facing several waves, and it has been several months that we have experienced over 100 deaths a day,” Harirchi added.

At the same time, an infectious disease expert stated that coronavirus deaths are at a crisis level and if the trend continues, the number of victims in November will reach over 600 a day.

He went on to say that herd immunity does not work and offered Qom as an example which was hit heavily by the virus in January, February and March and it is once again in the red zone. 

The spokesperson for the Medical Science University of Isfahan also announced that in the past 24 hours, 43 people have died of coronavirus in Isfahan hospitals. 

Iran was the second countryin the world after China where the coronavirus spread in January and early February, but the government acknowledged it only on February 19 and then refused to establish quarantines and a long enough lockdown to stem the tide. 

Medical officials have not offered a new plan to fight the new wave of the virus, but President Rouhani has once again emphasized that the upcoming public mourning ceremonies will be held as usual, but asked the people to follow health protocols.