Over 19m Iranians Received Covid Booster Shot

The number of Iranians who have been administered the third Covid booster dose jumped to over 19 million on Friday amid fears of Omicron spread, with thousands of adults over the age of 18 standing in long lines to enter vaccination centers. 
The climb in Omicron cases over the past two weeks has created demand for the booster shot as the public scramble to avoid contracting the highly mutated variant, ISNA reported. 
On Friday, the daily tally of Covid cases was down by 1,200 to 36,900, but up by 315% from a week ago. Health experts suggest that the real tally is much higher than official figures when asymptomatic patients and those who never get tested are taken into account. 
Iran began rolling out booster shots in early autumn to increase levels of antibodies in those most at risk. It extended vaccine eligibility to anyone over the age of 18 one day after Omicron was detected in the capital Tehran in late December. 
The easily transmissible variant was first reported in South Africa in November. It soon spread to all over the world, fueling a fresh wave of the pandemic. 
All hospitals across in Iran have been placed on high alert to tackle the sixth wave of coronavirus patients. 
According to the head of Covid-19 operations in the province of Tehran, Alireza Zali, nearly half of all PCR tests are coming back positive, “it goes to show the extent of the virus spread.”
Despite the spike in infection rates, the government has been slow to reimpose restrictive measures to curb the outbreak. 

New Strategy

Iran’s approach to restrictions will “differ” from that of previous waves, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Headquarters, Abbas Shiravjan, said on Thursday.
“Considering the mass vaccinations, the way restrictive measures are implemented will change,” he explained. 
As per the latest strategy, enclosed public places can continue to operate with 20% of capacity to slow transmission rates but keep businesses open. 
“For now, we have no intention of restricting businesses … if newer and more serious decisions needed to be made, we’ll decide based on the circumstances,” Shiravjan said. 
During Iran’s encounter with previous waves, the government would ban travel to and from high-risk provinces, place a nighttime curfew and close down universities, schools and high-risk places of business like beauty salons. 
Only elementary schools have been ordered to close for one week, this time around.