Kovid-19: Iranian president warns of “fourth wave”

President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday warned of a “fourth wave” of Kovid-19 in Iran, following an increase in the number of cases in some parts of the Middle East, where the epidemic has hit hard.

“This is a warning to all of us,” Rohani told the Coronavirus Committee weekly meeting.

Some towns in the southwestern province of Khuzestan are now “red” zones, he warned, adding that pollution has been low for several weeks across the country.

“It simply came to our notice then. We must all be vigilant to prevent this, ”Mr. Rohani underlined.

Iran, the Middle East country hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has killed more than 59,000 people, more than 1.5 million.

The Islamic Republic has officially registered less than 7,000 infections daily since the end of December, but this early crossed again in early February.

The daily death toll is less than 100, the lowest level since June

According to Kianoush Jahanpur, head of public relations at the Ministry of Health, Mr Rohani’s announcements came the day after he received 100,000 additional doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine “ahead of schedule”.

Following the distribution of the first batch of the Russian vaccine on February 4, the vaccination campaign began on Tuesday. Jahanpur said Iran had bought a total of two million doses of Sputnik V.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said Iran would receive 4.2 million doses of the Anglo-Swedish astrogenic vaccine, purchased through the international Kovacs mechanism..

Iran also began clinical trials of its own vaccine in December.