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Tehran (Iran), August 15: The Iranian health ministry reported on Saturday 29,700 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 4,389,085.
The pandemic has claimed 97,208 lives in the country so far, after 466 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, according to a briefing published by Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education on its official website.
A total of 3,700,828 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 7,252 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said.
By Saturday, 14,767,598 people have received at least a dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the country, while 3,813,628 have taken two doses.
In order to "control the fifth surge" of the pandemic, Iran's national headquarters fighting the coronavirus decided on Saturday a five-day shutdown of all non-essential businesses across the country starting next Monday, said Alireza Raisi, spokesman for the headquarters.
A traffic ban between provinces at a national scale will also be imposed starting at noon in the next week, except for ambulances and essential transportation, Raisi said.
Prayers in closed spaces are also prohibited, the spokesman added.
Source: Xinhua