Iran leader sees outbreak persisting for six more months

TEHERAN－The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iran reached 326,712 on Sunday, with an increase of 2,020 in the past 24 hours, according to the latest official figure.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that his country's pandemic will last at least six more months.

The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of 18,427 people in the country. Some 284,371 patients have recovered, while 4,022 are in critical condition.

"Until we obtain a vaccine that is effective and get a sufficient quantity of it… we will be confronting this situation," Rouhani said.

A total of 15 Iranian provinces are currently at high risk, while 11 others on alert, Sima Sadat Lari, a spokeswoman of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said.

In Saudi Arabia, the number of cases rose by 1,428 to 288,690 on Sunday, with 37 more deaths, for a total of 3,167.

The kingdom reported that 1,599 COVID-19 patients had recovered from the previous day, taking the total to 252,039.

In Turkey, the number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 240,804 on Sunday, after 1,182 new infections were reported, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

The death toll from the virus in the country rose to 5,844 after 15 fatalities were added, said Koca, adding that 1,103 more patients had recovered, raising the total in this category to 223,759.

In Qatar, 297 new cases were detected, increasing the total number to 112,947, including 184 deaths and 109,709 patient recoveries.

Israel reported 678 new infections on Sunday, taking the tally of coronavirus cases to 83,002. The death toll from the virus increased to 600.

The United Arab Emirates announced 225 new infections on the same day and one more death, taking the total infections to 62,525 and the death toll to 357.

Xinhua