TEHRAN – In a letter to the universities of medical sciences, the Ministry of Health emphasized the need to inject a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

Considering the return of Hajj and Arbaeen pilgrims and the reopening of schools and universities, it is necessary to pay special attention to the continued use of masks and compliance with the health guidelines, especially in high-risk groups, and to strengthen border health care and the cooperation of relevant agencies in timely detection of the arrival of new strains, deputy health minister Kamal Heydari wrote in the letter, emphasizing the recommendation to receive a booster dose for all age groups, more than six months have passed since their last vaccination.

COVID-19 infections significantly increase

It has been about a week that the number of outpatient cases has significantly increased again, and it seems that a new wave is happening in the country, Payam Tabarsi, a member of the scientific committee of coronavirus control, has said.

The national scientific committee to deal with coronavirus has said that omicron BA4 and BA5 variants may soon dominate the country.It seems that outpatient cases increase will show its effect on death and hospitalization in two to three weeks. Currently, it is strongly recommended to follow health protocols and inject vaccines by those who have not been vaccinated yet. Because the vaccine really reduces the severity of the disease, he suggested.

Masoud Younesian, secretary of the epidemiology and research committee of the national scientific committee to deal with coronavirus, has said that omicron BA4 and BA5 variants may soon dominate the country.

According to the official statistics, about 20 to 25 percent of eligible people in the society did not inject the coronavirus vaccine at all, and between 30 to 35 percent only injected a dose of the vaccine, who is called the vulnerable population.

In the first week of the Iranian calendar month of Tir which began on June 25, COVID-19 hospitalizations and outpatients have tripled in the country.

Also, unfortunately, a total of 11 patients died last week. Based on this, the total number of deaths from this disease has reached 141,390 people.

So far, about 150 million doses of vaccine have been injected into the Iranian population and the coverage of vaccination in the total population is about 75 percent, he highlighted.

FB/MG