Iran Covid: Number of daily deaths decreases to 58

Iranian Health Ministry figures announced on Saturday show that 58 people have died of the disease since Friday, nearly 40 percent down compared with the previous day and the lowest death toll in nearly a year. The deaths push to 130,125 the total fatalities in Iran since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. 

Total caseload is 6,131,356, of whom 5,916,196 people recovered. The large decrease in the number of deaths and cases has been attributed to a nationwide vaccination campaign that sped up in summer. 

Since the vaccination drive began, over 100 million doses of vaccine have been administered with nearly 50 million having received two doses of the jab. Over a million people have also been given the third dose, known as the booster shot. 

Currently, there are two red zones in Iran in terms of risk from the disease. The rest of the Iranian cities and towns are either orange, yellow or blue. 

Iran has made the achievements in its healthcare sector at a time when the nation is under the heaviest ever sanctions by the US. Unlike other countries, in Iran, the vast majority of people welcomed the vaccination campaign and in the early months of the process stood in long lines to get their jabs. 

The Iranian government also made massive efforts to push back the Covid outbreak which at its peak killed as many as 800 people daily. 

The Foreign and Health Ministries were instrumental in the fight against Covid with the former helping with vaccine imports and the latter accelerating production of homegrown jabs.