"A sum of 6,404 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country based on confirmed diagnosis criteria during the past 24 hours," the Iranian Health Ministry's Public Relations Center said on Friday, and added, "1,238 patients have been hospitalized during the same time span."

 

It further announced that the total number of COVID-19 patients has increased to 7,465,579.

 

"Unfortunately, 68 patients have lost their lives in the past 24 hours, increasing the number of the dead to 142,806," the ministry noted. 

 

It expressed satisfaction that 7,150,869 coronavirus patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals so far.

 

The center went on to say that 1,484 cases infected with COVID-19 are in critical conditions.

 

It added that 53,477,204 coronavirus diagnosis tests have so far been carried out across the country.

 

The health ministry public relations warned that 130 cities are rated red, 129 cities are orange, 154 cities are yellow, and 35 cities are blue.

 

Iran’s National Coronavirus Task Force warned about the rising number of fatalities and cases from the COVID-19 in the country.

 

Iran’s Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has stated the country has entered a seventh wave of infections with COVID-19, warning that the coronavirus pandemic is still far from over.

 

“I have repeatedly said it is very wrong to think that coronavirus is over. It is a type of virus that will live on for years,” the minister said in an interview with the state television.

 

The problem with containing the virus is that the world is not acting in a harmonious way in facing the disease, he explained, adding that there are still countries in Africa where the rate of vaccinations stands at only 6 to 8 percent and the virus lingers.

 

Coronavirus figures and deaths have been on a downward trend since the government started a mass vaccination campaign.

 

In a televised interview in May, Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi touched on the reopening of businesses and schools after a successful vaccination campaign, saying that "today, in addition to importing vaccines, we also have a very high capacity to produce vaccines in the country and even export them”.

 

The president said his government's measures have brought down the number of daily deaths from the coronavirus pandemic to a one-digit number from hundreds.

 

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the Central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. It has so far killed over 6.44 million people and infected over 592 million others globally.

 

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

 

Although the US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), former Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

 

In relevant remarks in August, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber rapped Washington and its allies for imposing banking sanctions that prevent Iran’s efforts to buy drugs and medical equipment amid a surge in the number of coronavirus infected and deaths in the country.

 

“Although the arrogant system (led by the US) claims that access to medicine is free for all people and there is no restriction for any country when we want to purchase the needed medicine, they do not allow transfer of money and prevent the drugs’ imports,” Mokhber said, addressing a meeting in Tehran.

 

He also noted that coronavirus has affected many businesses and the shortage of medicine and treatment-related issues have also placed a heavy burden on the country's budget, saying that these problems need serious planning and efforts to address the problems of businesses that are affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.

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