Iranian Red Crescent Society unveils volume of imported coronavirus vaccine

By Trend

The Iranian Red Crescent Society imported 1.11 million doses of coronavirus vaccine today on August 19, the Head of Iranian Red Crescent Society Karim Hemmati said,Trend reports citing IRNA.

According to Hemmati, so far, the Iranian Red Crescent Society has imported 17.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccine in 15 batches.

The official added that the Iranian Red Crescent Society continues to import vaccines from China to Iran and will increase its efforts to double vaccine imports next month (August 23 through September 22).

"So, 5 million doses of vaccine will be imported to Iran every week during next month, and thus, a total of 20 million doses of vaccine will be imported into the country within the mentioned month," he said.

According to the statistics of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), in total, 24.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were imported to Iran from February 3, 2021, to August 17, 2021.

Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from Iranian officials, over 4.55 million people have been infected, and 99,691 people have already died.

Meanwhile, over 3.81 million people have reportedly recovered from the disease.

The country continues to apply strict measures to contain further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.