(Reuters) – Iran imposed a ten-day shutdown in most parts of the country on Saturday to curb the spread of a fourth wave of a coronavirus pandemic, state media reported.
The closure affects 23 of the country’s 31 provinces, health ministry spokeswoman Alireza Raisi said. Businesses, schools, theaters and sports facilities have been forced to close and meetings are banned during the fasting month of Ramadan which begins on Wednesday.
Coronavirus cases in Iran have surpassed 2 million, with a new daily average of more than 20,000 infections over the past week, according to the health ministry. It has reported more than 64,000 fatalities.
“Unfortunately, today we have entered a fourth wave,” President Hassan Rouhani said in televised statements. He blamed the increase mainly on the variant that first emerged in the UK and spread to Iran earlier this year from neighboring Iraq.
Other factors included widespread travel, weddings and celebrations during the Iranian New Year holidays that began on March 20, he said.
The UK variant is now predominant in the country and 257 cities and towns are on red alert, Raisi said.
Iran has been the epicenter of the pandemic in the Middle East. In February, it closed several checkpoints with Iraq in an attempt to curb the spread of the UK variant.
The country’s vaccination push has also been slow.
Tehran says it has received more than 400,000 of 2 million vaccines against Sputnik V commissioned by Russia and is pending the delivery of 4.2 million shots from AstraZeneca.
It has also received 250,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China and part of an order for 500,000 doses of COVAXIN in India.
With a population of 83 million, Iran hoped to get more than 2 million vaccines by March 20 to vaccinate mainly health workers. It is developing at least four local vaccine candidates, one in cooperation with Cuba, which are expected to reach production in a few months.