A new wave of the coronavirus pandemic could possibly hit Iran in the near future given the dramatic rise in outpatient visits over the past week, a member of the national science committee against Covid, Payam Tabarsi, said on Tuesday.
“We’re once again on an upward trend of the disease. It seems that this situation is the start of a peak,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA.
According to him, the severity of the wave could be calculated in seven to ten days when more information is available about transmission rates.
Experts suggest that new mutations of the highly contagious Omicron, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, will establish dominance throughout the country in coming weeks.
Tabarsi noted, “The rise in outpatient visits will be reflected in the number of hospitalizations and deaths in two to three weeks.”
He said that it was critical for unvaccinated individuals to get inoculated as soon as possible as vaccines can prevent severe disease.
Some 20-25% of the eligible population have refused to receive vaccination in Iran and 30-35% have only been administered one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
The elderly and patients with compromised immune systems were also advised to get a booster dose, especially if more than six months had passed since their last shot.
Tabarsi encouraged the public to continue to wear facemasks in enclosed spaces and carefully follow Covid safety measures, “Some people have come to the conclusion that the coronavirus [pandemic] is over.”
The Iranian government eased quarantine measures all around the country after the majority of its population of 85 million were vaccinated against the contagion.
Positive Tests Rising
For the second day in a row, the Health Ministry logged daily coronavirus patient tallies exceeding the 1,000 threshold.
On Tuesday, some 1,084 patients tested positive for the coronavirus and 150 were hospitalized. At least four died from the respiratory disease on the same day.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 7.24 million Iranians have contracted the virus and 141,408 have lost their lives to it.
Iran is launching another vaccination campaign to increase immunity levels in its population and also prepare for the new school year as well as upcoming religious ceremonies that promise gatherings in enclosed spaces.
Anyone over the age of 18 who was administered a third booster shot over six months ago is now eligible for a fourth dose.
