Iran Covid: 5 killed, infections rising, new subvatiant detected

The figures also showed that 1,271 people had tested positive for the Coronavirus in the past 24 hours. They included 176 hospitalizations.

It seems the number of new infections in Iran has surged compared to several days ago when they were less than 100 or at maximum a bit over 100.

This comes as the Iranian health ministry says some cases of Omicron subvariant BA.5 have been detected in Iran.

The ministry warned that BA.5 can become the dominant strain of Covid and trigger a new wave of the disease in the country.

BA.5 seems to be a primary driver behind a recent spike in Covid cases and hospitalizations worldwide, most notably in the US.

In Iran, the number of deaths has remained single-digit though over the past couple of months the daily caseloads show an upward trend.

Authorities are urging people who have declined to receive their boosters of the Covid vaccine to get the third and fourth doses.

They say a new wave of the Coronavirus could be around the corner if people’s immune system weakens in the face of the new strains of the virus.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said all people over the age of 12 must get their boosters. Covid has so far killed 141,413 people in Iran.

The world’s most hit country by the pandemic is the US where the disease has killed nearly a million people.