Iran's health ministry announced on Sunday that 10,048,871 COVID-19 diagnosis tests have been conducted across the country so far.
The ministry’s spokeswoman announced 7,390 daily COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total nationwide infections to 1,518,263.
The pandemic has so far claimed 58,945 lives in Iran, up by 62 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari during her daily briefing.
She further said that the rising trend of COVID-19 hospitalization in some provinces, which runs parallel with the detection of the new variant, is "a serious warning" of a possible "fourth wave" in Iran.
"Since the mutated variant is more contagious and deadly, if the relevant hygiene principles are not observed, we will face much worse and complicated situation compared to the previous rises of the COVID-19 in the country," Sadat Lari said.
Of the newly infected, 568 were hospitalized, said Lari, adding that a total of 1,298,023 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals, while 3,709 remain in intensive care units.