Iranian Health official sounds alarm at rising influenza cases ahead of cold season

Ebrahim Ghaderi, a senior official with the Health Ministry’s Center of Communicable Disease Control, told Khabaronline news website that this year, the country is bracing for not just influenza but a host of other viruses, including coronavirus, in autumn and in winter.

“That is because the level of immunity has decreased in the society. In particular, children are at the risk of dangerous viral diseases,” he warned.

“In the past week, 334 patients were diagnosed with flu. We have had fatalities as well, but the final death toll is yet to be calculated,” Ghaderi said.

He attributed decreased immunity levels to the coronavirus spread over the past two years, which promoted people to observe health protocols and were thus less infected with this type of viruses.

Commenting on the Covid-19 pandemic, the official said it is unlikely that a more dangerous strain of the coronavirus would emerge at least in the next year or two.

“Currently, people’s immunity to coronavirus has increased and the virus is less circulating. When the virus circulates less, the possibility of the emergence of a new strain also decreases. New strains have of course been identified across the world and are being monitored,” he said.