Iran's health officials said multiple variants of the COVID-19 virus are raging across four southern provinces up to 50% faster than two weeks ago. The rates have now placed much of the country's impoverished southern and southeastern strip in the country's "red" infection zone.

Iran's health minister has already warned that the "stubborn" nature of Indian and South African mutations identified in various locations nationwide could further complicate the country's pandemic control policies. An alarm has also been sounded on the situation in the capital Tehran, where coronavirus-related hospitalizations are back on the rise following a brief respite.

According to an estimate by the Tasnim News Agency, overall nationwide infections have witnessed a 113% jump in the past few weeks. Such figures, the report says, could herald a looming crisis or what health experts had earlier cautioned could become a fifth and most lethal peak of the pandemic.

Iran introduced a vaccination rollout in February but as of June 21, only five million doses have been delivered to a population of 85 million. The piecemeal program has been halted over the past few weeks, leaving elderly citizens above the age of 70, who are now eligible to receive doses, unable to find them.