TEHRAN – Eight homegrown COVID-19 vaccines have been listed among 48 promising candidates of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Eight Iranian-made COVID-19 vaccines are on the WHO list, and of course, eight others are likely to be included in the list as well, Kianoush Jahanpour, the spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday.

Almost all possible strategies for developing coronavirus vaccine in Iran have passed the laboratory production stage, he added.

On Friday, Mostafa Ghane'ei, an official with the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology said that the human injection of the homegrown COVID-19 vaccine will be started in the Iranian calendar month of Khordad (May 22-June 21, 2021).

Iraj Harirchi, the deputy minister of health said that in Iran, 12 groups are making efforts to develop coronavirus vaccine, three of which have passed the animal testing.

Last week, Health Minister Saeed Namaki expressed hope that the country will introduce the home-grown COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2021).

The National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control will implement a plan, according to which all occupations, except for emergency services and basic food suppliers, will be closed for two weeks in more than 100 cities in an attempt to curb the virus, which will go into effect on November 21.

Coronavirus cases, deaths on the rise 

In a press briefing on Saturday, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 11,203 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 749,525. She added that 552,747 patients have so far recovered, but 5,642 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, coronavirus daily deaths and new cases hit the record high, as 452 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 41,034, she added.

Lari noted that so far 5,464,191 COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country. She said the high-risk “red” zones include provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azarbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardebil, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, Gilan, Bushehr, Zanjan, Ilam, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Alborz, West Azarbaijan, Markazi, Kerman, North Khorasan, Hamedan, Yazd, and Kordestan.

The provinces of Hormozgan, Fars, and Golestan and Sistan-Baluchestan are also on alert.

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