All of the capitals of Iran’s provinces were categorized as ‘red zones’ with high risk of coronavirus epidemic as the number of daily infections in the country has hit an all-time high.


The latest map released on Wednesday by the Health Ministry about the coronavirus situation in the country reveals that all provincial capitals and big cities have been categorized as red zones.

Many of those cities were in the blue category during the new Iranian year’s holidays at the beginning of spring.

Health Ministry officials have warned that the number of new coronavirus cases is skyrocketing, calling on people to abide by the health protocols to deal with the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Health Ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Lari said on Tuesday that the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in Iran has surpassed 1,963,000 with the detection of over 17,000 new cases and the death toll has exceeded 63,500.

At least 1,667,000 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, and more than 13.25 million diagnostic tests have been carried out in the country.

Officials say a nationwide vaccination program could not begin any sooner than late spring.

The administration has devised plans to receive over 16 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX, import more than 25 million doses from abroad, and produce 25 million other doses inside the country.

Iran on Monday received the first consignment of coronavirus vaccine allocated under the World Health Organization's COVAX program, including over 700,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

The country has a population of over 83 million.