The tone was on alert Saturday in Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned his fellow citizens against a "
fifth wave
" of the coronavirus, caused by the Delta variant.
During a meeting of the National Committee for the fight against the virus, he urged the southern provinces to be particularly careful, "
because the Delta variant has spread
".
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In Iran, the country in the Near and Middle East most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the disease has killed more than 84,000 out of a total of more than 3.2 million people infected, according to the latest official figures , largely undervalued by the authorities' own admission.
The provinces of Sistan-Balochistan, Kerman, Hormozgan and Fars, located in the south and south-east of the country, are classified as “
red
”, as well as ten cities including the capital in the province of Tehran.
Strangled by US sanctions, Tehran complains that it cannot import enough vaccines to protect its population, given the difficulties in making payments to its suppliers abroad.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 4.4 million people out of a total population of 83 million have received a first dose of vaccine since the start of the vaccination campaign in February, but only 1.7 million 'Iranians received the two necessary doses.
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“
God willing, the situation will improve in terms of vaccination from next week. Vaccination will be more extensive,
”Hassan Rohani promised. The authorities recently announced that they had approved the “
emergency
” use of two locally manufactured vaccines that have not yet obtained marketing authorization.