TEHRAN – Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has announced the beginning of a new wave of coronavirus pandemic, as the number of infected people with the Omicron variant is surging.

“Unfortunately, with the increase in hospitalization and outpatient cases, we have to announce that we have practically entered the sixth wave,” Einollahi wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

The minister urged more caution against the disease and said getting booster vaccinations could play a major role in preventing a fresh surge in the number of deaths and infections from the virus.

The announcement came as figures published on the website of the Iranian health ministry on Thursday showed that the number of deaths from coronavirus had increased to 30 from a caseload of 14,285 reported over the past 24 hours.

The figures showed that the daily number of hospitalization cases had soared to 836 while nearly 1,300 patients were in intensive care wards in hospitals because of the disease.

7 cities in high-risk red zones

According to the latest announcement, seven cities of the country are at high risk of COVID infection, namely, Qom (Qom province), Kashan (Isfahan province), Ferdows (South Khorasan province), and Abarkooh, Ardakan, Khatam, and Mehriz (all in Yazd province).

The highest category on Iran’s coronavirus risk scale is the red zone, which reaches lower risk areas by orange, yellow, and blue zones.

Four major cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, and 39 towns are in the orange zones, 217 in the yellow category, 181 cities are in blue zones, and no cities are red.

FB/MG