Mutated Coronavirus Circulating in SW Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – While Iran has managed to keep the daily death toll from the coronavirus below 100 for the seventh week in a row, a mutated strain of the virus first found in the UK is infecting more people in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.
Officials said on Sunday that the situation in Khuzestan is worsening with a growing number of people becoming infected with the mutated variant of the coronavirus.
The intensive care units at the hospitals of provincial capital, Ahvaz, have no vacancies for new patients.
Speaking at a daily press conference on Sunday, the Health Ministry spokeswoman said the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in Iran has surpassed 1,574,000 following the detection of 7,931 new cases since yesterday.
Of the new cases detected in the past 24 hours, 574 patients have been admitted to the hospital, Sima Sadat Lari added.
Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,689 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.
She further put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 59,483, saying the disease has taken the lives of 74 patients over the past 24 hours.
At least 1,344,790 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.
The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 111.7 million and the death toll has exceeded 2.47 million.