Boosting COVID-19 Vaccination, Iran Announces First Case Of Omicron Variant

Illustration of a COVID-19 test. (Wikimedia Commons/dronepicr)

JAKARTA - Iran has detected its first case of infection by a new omicron variant of the coronavirus, state TV reported Sunday local time.

The announcement comes as the variant spreads around the world less than a month after scientists warned the World Health Organization (WHO) about a version that looked worrying.

Citing the Associated Press December 19, Iran has vaccinated around 60 percent of its population of about 85 million people with two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

The coronavirus has killed more than 131.000 people in Iran, the Middle East's worst death rate. On August 24 alone, 709 people died from the disease. The number of deaths has decreased in recent months due to vaccinations, experts say.

Iran has accelerated vaccination in recent weeks. More than 50 million Iranians have received the second injection, and 3.5 million have received the third injection.

Previously, only 7 million Iranians received vaccinations when President Ebrahin Raisi formed his government in late August.

To note, Iran generally uses the Sinopharm vaccine made in China, although Russia's Sputnik-V and a vaccine made by the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are also used.

Iranian officials urged people who got two doses of the vaccine to get their third dose as soon as possible.