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.
