Iran's health ministry reported the country's first three deaths from the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday.
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"The number of patients with Omicron in the country has reached 1,162 and ... one death has been reported due to Omicron in each of the cities of Tabriz, Yazd, and Shahrekord, and one critically ill patient is hospitalized in Ahvaz," ministry spokesman Mohammad Hashemi told state broadcaster IRIB.
Iran, the pandemic's epicenter in the Middle East, has suffered 132,044 deaths in five waves of COVID-19 infections since February 2020. Deaths have fallen in recent months and stood at 18 on Saturday, a 22-month low, according to the state television.
