COVID-19: Iran's Rouhani warns of fifth wave due to Delta variant, asks to 'be cautious'

Amid a surge of new COVID-19 infections and deaths, Iran President Hassan Rouhani, on Saturday, expressed his concern over the entry of the possible fifth wave of the deadly virus in the country. He held Delta variant-- which was first identified in India-- responsible for the upcoming wave in the country.

The statement comes after the deadly pandemic killed more than 84,000 people out of over 3.2 million who got infected by COVID-19 and forewarned the public to be careful as "the Delta variant has shown its footprints" in the southern province of the country.  

"It is feared that the country is on the way to a fifth wave due to Delta variant. Therefore, be cautious," said Hassan Rouhani during a meeting of Iran's anti-virus task force.

Iran about to enter fifth COVID-19 wave

The country is battling the Middle East's deadliest outbreak due to the low inculcation of coronavirus vaccine in the country. According to the health ministry, nearly 4.4 million people have been inculcated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Ministry also informed that 1.7 million have received the necessary two doses of the vaccine. According to the reports, a ban of the American and Britain vaccines-- a reflection of mistrust toward the West-- resulted in the low inculcation of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Supreme leader asks to wait for Iranian vaccine

Earlier in June, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei informed that he had received the first coronavirus vaccine developed by the Islamic Republic and added it is better to wait for the Iranian vaccine rather than taking foreign-made vaccines. In order to give a push to the vaccination program, Iranian authorities have approved the emergency use of two indigenous produced vaccines.

The country made pharmaceutical company Shifafarmed made the COVIran Barekat vaccine based on the deactivated virus. Though it has not published data about the efficacy of the vaccine but claims that people who get the indigenously developed jab have about 85 percent of the immunity to the virus which was reportedly originated from China's Wuhan province in 2019.

Meanwhile, urging the Iranian citizens to get a jab of the coronavirus vaccine, he said that, "The vaccination program will improve in the next week as the country has approved two vaccines."

(IMAGE CREDIT: AP)