Iran Logs Highest Daily Covid Cases Since Feb. 

The Health Ministry on Sunday registered more than 8,800 active coronavirus cases from throughout the country, the highest daily record since late February. 
The tally showed a 27.5% spike in daily infections compared to a day earlier, ISNA reported data collected by the Health Ministry. 
Some 34 patients lost their lives to the infectious disease on Sunday, bringing the national toll to 141,684. 
Over the past month, experts have warned of the formation of the seventh wave of the pandemic fueled by new subvariants of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5. 
The variants, first discovered in South Africa in early 2022, can evade antibodies produced by vaccination and prior infection, making them highly transmissible. 
According to Health Ministry officials, one infected individual can spread the virus to as many as 18 people. In the past ten days, 262 contracted the infection and one person died from it every hour. 
Reports by the ministry estimate that although the virus has made a comeback, the general public are widely dismissive of Covid health protocols. 
Adherence to safety measures has dropped to an all-time low of 35.8% and only one in four people continue to wear facemasks in public. 

Schools to Reopen 

Despite the surge in Covid cases and fatalities over the past few weeks, President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday said that schools and universities are scheduled to fully reopen in September. 
“No excuse can stop the in-person reopening of educational classes,” the president said in the weekly meeting of the National Coronavirus Headquarters. 
The top official noted that people should cover their faces with masks in public places to curb transmission rates and receive booster shots to increase immunity against the contagion. 
Pointing to upcoming religious ceremonies and the return of hajis from Saudi Arabia, he advised border control to carefully screen travelers to prevent the formation of new Covid clusters. 
The Iranian government has relaunched the vaccination campaign to give its population of 85 million booster doses that can combat the contagion.
In the past 24 hours, over 869,000 doses were administered. With the rise in hospitalizations and cases, more people are visiting medical centers to get vaccinated against Covid. 
Since the start of the outbreak, 574.8 million have become infected with the coronavirus and 6.4 million have died from it across the globe.