TEHRAN: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech on the coronavirus situation yesterday. – AFP

TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday that halting Covid-19 is an "urgent" priority and called for more vaccine imports and production, after record deaths and infections. The Islamic republic's Covid cases and fatalities have surged in recent weeks, in what officials have said is a "fifth wave" caused by the highly infectious Delta variant. "Today, the issue of the coronavirus disease is the country's primary and urgent issue," Khamenei said in a televised address focused on the health crisis.

Khamenei said the record number of casualties was "truly painful," and demanded greater efforts to boost vaccine "imports and domestic production". Iran is the Middle East country worst hit by the pandemic. It has recorded more than 95,600 deaths and over 4.2 million infections, with health authorities acknowledging the official casualty numbers underestimate the real toll.

In the past 24 hours, 42,541 people tested positive for the coronavirus - the country's highest daily caseload since the start of the pandemic. Iran has pinned its hopes on vaccinations, but the campaign launched in February has progressed slower than anticipated. Choked by US sanctions that have made it difficult to transfer money abroad, Iran has said it is struggling to import vaccines for its 83 million-strong population.

The authorities have approved the emergency use of two locally produced vaccines, with the only mass-produced one, COVIran Barekat, still in short supply. The other vaccines used in Iran include Russia's Sputnik V, China's Sinopharm, India's Bharat and AstraZeneca/Oxford, according to the health ministry. More than 13.8 million people have been given a first vaccine dose, but only 3.7 million have received the necessary two jabs, the ministry said yesterday.

Khamenei on July 24 received the second Barekat jab, developed by a powerful state-owned foundation known as Setad, his office said. In January, the supreme leader had banned the use of vaccines made by the United States and Britain, calling them "completely untrustworthy". "Part of the problem is lack of observance of health protocols by the people," Khamenei said yesterday, calling on the public to alleviate the "truly great concern" of overburdened health centers by being more careful.

He also pointed to the religious events held during the Islamic mourning month of Muharram as a "blessing" and a necessity for the Islamic republic but urged health protocols to be observed "with the utmost care". "Do not let these events be a cause of the virus' spread so that ... the enemies ridicule them and say (the events) caused the spread," Khamenei added.

Iran has avoided imposing a full lockdown on the population, and instead resorted to piecemeal measures such as temporary travel bans and business closures. The national COVID taskforce said it was considering imposing new restrictions as of Saturday, state media reported, following a meeting chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday. - AFP