Iran: Daily Coronavirus Deaths Cross 400

Iran reported over 400 fatalities caused by the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, the highest daily toll since late November, with experts expecting new cases and deaths to climb over the next few weeks.
“We haven’t reached the peak of the fourth wave yet,” Spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce Alireza Raeisi said. “We won’t be downgrading the ‘red’ alert level anytime soon.”
The 26% spike in daily deaths, compared to a day earlier, pushed the total number to 66,700, the Health Ministry announced.
Raeisi noted that the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations during the peak of third wave in autumn had reached 23,000, while hospitalizations have now risen to 43,000 and “we’re not even at the peak of the fourth wave”.
“We’re predicting that hospitalizations will surge to 60,000 during the peak of the fourth wave, which will be an all-time record,” he added.
More than 21,600 were reported to have contracted the infectious disease within one day, 3,000 of whom were admitted to hospitals, taking the national tally of cases to 2.23 million.
The government has closed most non-essential businesses in cities color-coded orange and red, but health authorities have warned that restrictions are not strict enough to stem the spread of the infection.
Alireza Zali, the head of Covid-19 operations in Tehran Province, said, “We’re expecting two very difficult and crucial weeks in the province.”
According to Zali, the severity of the disease has increased in patients visiting hospitals in the last few days, suggesting a “change in the pattern” of how severely the disease is affecting people.
As of Sunday, Iran has administered 516,860 vaccine doses. Some 389,000 have received the first dose of the vaccine and 127,000 of them have been fully vaccinated.
Iran will conclude the first phase of its national vaccination program next week by inoculating 1.3 million of its population.
Over 4,700 patients are hospitalized in ICU units across the country in critical condition, the Health Ministry said.
Global coronavirus cases jumped to 141.4 million and the pandemic’s death toll reached 3.02 million.