Latest Covid Figures Show Omicron’s Spread In Iran
Iran is enduring its sixth wave of infections by the Covid-19 as the daily death roll reached 227 on Wednesday, with 70 in Tehran.
Iran is enduring its sixth wave of infections by the Covid-19 as the daily death roll reached 227 on Wednesday, with 70 in Tehran.
The health ministry out the total number of people infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic at nearly 7 million: 15,340 had tested positive in the past 24 hours, with 2,333 in hospital.
Tehran constitutes 10 percent of Iran’s population and if the capital had 70 Covid deaths in one day, the nationwide toll could have been higher than the 227 figure the government announced on Wednesday.
Iran has the Middle East’s highest official figures for Covid fatalities with around 135,500 deaths in an 85 million population with 67 percent fully vaccinated. Egypt, with 29 percent of its 104-million population fully vaccinated, has reported just under 29.000 deaths.
Iran’s statistics, announced daily by the health ministry, have been questioned by – among others – the principlist newspaper Javan and BBC Persian. While health authorities have warned the figures are likely to increase over the next two months with the onset of the Omicron variant, President Ebrahim Raisi has rejected proposals for a nationwide shutdown.
This week, Iran returned about 820,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by Poland, with a media report alleging they had been made in the United States.
"Raisi, Ghalibaf, This is the last call. Teachers' movement is prepared for an uprising", teachers chanted in protests in Shiraz, Fars province (video), and Shahr-e Kord in Chahr Mahal province (video), as well as Ilam in Ilam province, and around 50 other cities.
The same slogan appeared on banners and posters in all rallies, including Tehran where teachers protested in front of the parliament.
There were also chants against the state broadcaster (IRIB), which has not covered earlier protests. "Enough Oppression and Injustice. There's Nothing on Our Tables" and "The Country Has Become A Thieves' Den. Sanctions Are Only an Excuse," chanted protesters in Najafabad in Esfahan province, dismissing any notion that Iran’s economic troubles were anything to do with United States ‘maximum pressure’ imposed in 2018.
A female teacher in Anzali (video), Gilan province, lambasted Iran’s authorities for teachers’ ills. "We weren't the ones who looted the Melli (National) Bank, we weren't the ones who pillaged the Teachers' Savings Fund, we weren't the ones who looted the Development Fund. We don't own villas and gardens in Canada [like some former officials]. We weren't the ones who smuggled important national documents out of the country. We are right here, beside you. We are easy to find, we are in schools, classes and with your children, brothers, and sisters.”
And it didn’t stop there. "Taking the teachers by the neck, dragging them on the ground, kicking them, is nothing you could be proud of,” she opined. “You must take the looters and pillagers if order in the country is important, if security in the country is important.” A teacher in Esfahan said in her speech Tuesday who also said that after thirty years of service she now must work as a cab driver to make ends meet.
Equal pay with other civil servants
This was the fifth nationwide protest by teachers in the past two months as they demand implementation of decade-old legislation that would bring the salaries and pensions of 750,000 teachers in line with other civil servants.
The budget bill that President Ebrahim Raisi presented to parliament December 12 proposes a 14-percent increase in the education ministry's budget but does not earmark resources for a teachers’ pay rise.
Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent this year, on top of high inflation in the four years since a jump from 9.6 percent in 2017 to 30.2 percent in 2018 and around 40 percent in 2021.
Some scuffles were reported during the demonstrations on Tuesday and security forces arrested at least two more teachers, Solmaz Feyzollahzadeh in Karaj in Alborz Province and Ali Hasan-Bahamin in Shiraz in Fars Province.
Teachers, whose rallies are organized by the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Union, also demanded the release of colleagues arrested in earlier protests. Shabnam Baharfar, a teacher arrested in Karaj Saturday, is still in custody but others arrested the same day have been released. Some scuffles were reported during the demonstrations on Tuesday.
