Daily Covid Cases Surpass 4,000

Iran’s Health Ministry on Wednesday logged 4,060 new cases of the coronavirus, up by over 140% compared to the start of the week as the Omicron variant continues to drive infections. 
It was the first time since December 1 that the daily tally of Covid-19 cases exceeded the 4,000 mark, IRNA reported. 
Community transmission of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus began some two weeks ago in Iran. Cases have been climbing since. 
Omicron was first detected in the capital of Tehran a month ago in a middle-aged man with recent travel history to the United Arab Emirates. 
Iranian officials made everyone over the age of 18 eligible for a third vaccine shot the very next day to prevent another wave of the outbreak. 
So far, some 15% of Iran’s population of 85 million people have received booster shots. More than 60.4 million people have been given a first shot and 53.3 million have been given two shots. 
On Wednesday morning, Spain’s donation of 2.204 million AstraZeneca shots arrived at Imam Khomeini International Airport, head of the Health Ministry’s Public Relations and Information Center, Mohammad Hashemi, announced. 
He said, “This shipment is worth nearly $10 million.”
The vaccines were delivered through COVAX, a global vaccine sharing program that aims to provide vaccination for low-income nations. 
“The main goal behind this donation is to vaccinate Afghan nationals in Iran. Of course Iran had started the inoculation of Afghans long ago,” Hashemi added. 
Hashemi pointed out that close to four million Afghans had already been vaccinated against Covid-19. 
According to the customs administration, Iran has imported over 15.7 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine since last year. 
The country was also shipped AstraZeneca shots by Greece and Japan over this week. Iran has in total imported 154.9 million Covid-19 vaccines in a span of one year.