ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has somehow affected the lives of 80% of the world's population. Iran has also experienced numerous outbreaks of this disease. The fifth wave having occurred in August 2021 was one of the most agonizing incidences of the pandemic in the country. METHOD: We reviewed all of publications and govermental statistics about COVID-19 pandemic In Iran between 2019 to 2021. RESULTS: The current study discusses the possible dimensions and causes of successive waves of COVID-19 in Iran, namely, the consequences of a significant delay in vaccination administration in due time, the collective overwhelming fallacy toward immunization, the polypharmacy controversy, inadequate community-based participation in risk reduction, and noticeable decrease in the public's resilience. CONCLUSION: A variety of strategies have been recommended in the article to modify the principal challenges in order to help control the pandemic in the country.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To review the articles dealing with the mutual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent earthquakes to elicit the various scopes of the lessons learned including the challenges, the successful measures, and the recommendations. METHODS: To detect the relevant studies published between February 1, 2020 and June 9, 2021, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched. Having considered specific inclusion/exclusion criteria, 18 studies were included. RESULTS: Seven major earthquakes have occurred concurrently or before the pandemic era, including Albania, Croatia, Haiti, Great East Japan, Mexico, Nepal, and Utah. Thematic analysis revealed five themes for the 'challenges' (management inefficiency, increased life-threatening, economic, socially-related, and dual psychological challenges); four themes for the 'efficient response measures' (healthcare services measures, government measures, community-based cooperative activities, and disaster management response); and three major themes with seven sub-themes for the 'recommendations' including 'the mitigation phase' (identifying probable natural disasters), 'the preparedness phase' (preparing necessary equipment), and 'the response phase' (mental care response measures, healthcare-related COVID-19 measures, economic improvement measures, recognizing community-based capabilities, and government-related boosting measures). CONCLUSION: It is suggested that these scopes of the mutual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the earthquakes be studied in systematic reviews.
ABSTRACT
In March 2020, concurrently with the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iran, the rate of alcohol poisoning was unexpectedly increased in the country. This study has attempted to make an overall description and analysis of this phenomenon by collecting credible data from the field, news, and reports published by the emergency centers and the Iranian Ministry of Health. The investigations showed that in May 20, 2020, more than 6150 people have been affected by methanol poisoning from whom 804 deaths have been reported. A major cause of the increased rate of alcohol poisoning in this period was actually the illusion that alcohol could eliminate the coronaviruses having entered the body. It is of utmost importance that all mass media try to dismiss the cultural, religious, and political considerations and prepare convincing programs to openly discuss the side-effects of forged alcohol consumption with the public, especially with the youth. It must be clearly specified that "consuming alcohol cannot help prevent COVID-19."