Iran has entered the sixth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic fueled by the easily transmissible Omicron variant, with infection rates spiraling and hospitalizations on the rise, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said on Thursday.
“Due to the increase in outpatient visits and hospitalizations, we have practically entered the sixth wave,” the minister said on his twitter account.
He once again pleaded with the public to wear facemasks, follow safety rules and get the third booster vaccination.
Less than one-fifth of Iran’s population have so far received the booster dose.
Health authorities have been urging everyone over the age of 18 to get the booster shot as soon as possible to tackle the highly mutated and contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The mutation was detected in the capital Tehran over a month ago. It soon spread across the country and pushed daily infection rates to a four-month high of 16,700 on Friday.
The number of daily cases have more than tripled compared to last Friday. Health authorities have stressed that the real figures are much higher than the official tally.
For the first time in nearly 50 days, seven cities mostly located in central Iran were placed on red alert due to high Covid transmission rates.
Colors red and orange, standing for high-risk and extremely high-risk areas, had been absent from the country’s map for nearly two months as Iranians recovered from the damage caused by the Delta variant.
Last week, the Health Ministry announced that Omicron had taken over Delta as the dominant variant and it is responsible for over 50% of coronavirus transmissions.
Iran has rolled back on confinement measures over the past few months and reopened schools, universities and all places of business including crowded gyms, cinemas and wedding halls.
