Sharp Decline in Cities on Red Covid Alert

The Health Ministry lowered the count of cities on red Covid-19 alert from 337 to 184 as the sixth wave of the pandemic, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, continued to subside. 
The weekly update provided by the Health Ministry showed a 45% drop in cities with dangerously high transmission rates, IRNA reported. 
Hospitalizations have drastically declined in 17 of Iran’s 31 provinces but Covid-related deaths have increased over the last week.
On Saturday, 7,000 more infections were registered by the Health Ministry, bringing the national tally to 7.03 million. Daily cases had surged to nearly 40,000 in early February. 
Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced on Friday that Iran had “more or less” passed the peak of the infectious disease and thanked all healthcare providers for their endless sacrifices in the past two years. 
Over 62 million Iranians have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 55 million have been administered two shots. More than 22.9 million have been given a booster shot for more protection against the virus. 
Over the past 24 hours, 168,000 more people got vaccinated, bringing the total number of vaccinations to 141 million jabs. 
The National Coronavirus Headquarters on Saturday instructed all higher education institutions to once again return to in-person classes considering the containment of the new wave. 
“All citizens can plan for trips during New Year holidays if they are fully vaccinated, unless it has been over three months since they received the last shot,” the HQ’s spokesman, Abbas Shirozhan, posted on twitter.
He added that the decision could change pending daily infection and hospitalization rates near the holidays.