Iran Registers 63 COVID-Related Deaths in 24 Hours

Thursday’s update brings the total number of confirmed COVID cases in Iran to 6,165,454, including 130,946 deaths.

The report also indicated that 5,990,898 patients infected with the coronavirus have recovered or been discharged from hospitals, while around 2,970 COVID-19 patients have been reported to be in critical condition or intensive care units.

More than 58,976,570 people have been administered with one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 49,989,114 individuals having received both doses while 3,307,997 people have also received the third shot as a booster.

Other countries are bracing for case surges as omicron — thought to be much more contagious if potentially less severe than its predecessors — upends the pandemic playbook. The variant is now likely to have reached nearly every country, according to the World Health Organization.

As the holidays near in many parts of the world, countries are putting in place new restrictions to stem the tide; after two omicron cases were identified in China, millions of people face the prospect of a Lunar New Year without family.

In the United States, where the overall death toll from the pandemic surpassed 800,000 on Tuesday, federal health officials warned there could be a massive wave of infections by January.

Still, experts are hopeful that a full course of vaccination plus a booster should provide some protection from the variant, especially against severe disease.