Tehran
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 35 million people of the country may contract the Coronavirus, as they still did not have herd immunity although a quarter of the population may be infected. It appears to be the first time a senior Iranian official has indicated the country is seeking to defeat Covid-19 via herd immunity. The virus has killed more than 588,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year. Iran has been battling a resurgence of Covid-19, with figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May. On Saturday, the health ministry reported another 188 coronavirus deaths and 2,166 cases of infection in the past 24 hours. That took the overall toll to 13,979 dead out of 271,606 cases since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February.—AFP
