TEHRAN – There is still the possibility that the eighth or even subsequent waves of coronavirus hit the country, but it highly depends on which variant of the virus will emerge, Mostafa Salehi Vaziri, head of the national laboratory for COVID-19 at the Pasteur Institute of Iran, has said.

The new strain of Omicron known as BA2.75 has not yet been identified in Iran. At present, the most available variant of COVID in the country (more than 90%) is the BA5 strain, and in other parts of the world, the BA5 strain is the most widespread, he explained.

In comparison to other countries where Omicron was first detected, Iran will probably not experience such a wide wave of Omicron. In comparison to other countries where Omicron was first detected, such as South Africa, Iran will probably not experience such a wide wave of Omicron, but in general, we cannot make an absolute prediction because the virus has shown us that something unexpected can happen at any moment, he highlighted.

He went on to note that there is a possibility of the eighth or more waves of the corona, but everything depends on what variant of the virus will emerge, which is also affected by other factors. Therefore, it cannot be said that the seventh wave is the last one in Iran.

Unless something unexpected happens, we probably won't have a dangerous mutation; But this issue is not certain at all. The only thing we are more certain of is that there will be fewer deaths; Because the immune system of people has been stimulated during this period and the cellular immune response can prevent the high intensity of the virus, he emphasized.

Masoud Younesian, an epidemiologist, also warned that the Omicron variant may rise for the third time in the country.

Hamidreza Jamaati, secretary of the National Scientific Committee of Coronavirus, said in July that if preventive measures such as wearing masks and injecting booster doses are adopted, we will not experience the rates of mortality that happened in March with Omicron or last summer with Delta.

“Various studies have shown that in the first trimester after two doses of the vaccine, there is a 70 percent and after six months, about 50 to 60 percent effectiveness against omicron and its subtypes, so our emphasis is on completing the vaccination.”

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