One person succumbs to the coronavirus every two minutes in Iran, state TV said Monday, as the Middle East's worst-hit nation reported a new daily record of 588 COVID deaths.
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With authorities complaining of poor social distancing, state media said hospitals in several cities had run out of beds for new patients. Some social media users have criticized the Islamic republic of slow vaccination rates, with only about 4% of the 83 million population fully vaccinated.
Total deaths reached 94,603, the ministry said, with 40,909 testing positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.
"Every two seconds one person gets infected with COVID in Iran and almost every two minutes one person dies from the coronavirus," state TV said, adding that most of Iran's 31 provinces were declared as high morbidity zones.
In January, Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned the import of US- and British-made vaccines, saying they were unreliable and may even increase the spread of the virus.
Newly-sworn in President Ebrahim Raisi, who received his first dose of a homegrown COVID vaccine – named COVIran Barekat – publicly on Sunday, has urged officials to speed up vaccinations and to use "all means necessary" for curbing the pandemic, state media reported.
Trying to speed up vaccinations using imported doses as well as its COVIran Barekat shot, Iran is also participating in the COVAX scheme, run by the GAVI alliance and the World Health Organization, that aims to secure fair access for poorer countries.
Iran has blamed US sanctions for hampering purchases and deliveries of vaccines from other nations.
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