Iran on Saturday announced the decision to close its land borders with neighbouring countries for 15 days to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 variant of Omicron.
Ruhollah Latifi, the spokesman for Iran's Customs, said Iran's land borders with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Armenia are closed for half a month from Saturday.
Iran's Health Ministry on Saturday reported 1,121 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country's total infections to 61,82,905.
The pandemic also claimed 42 lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,31,348, according to the ministry.
A total of 60,24,211 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 2,781 remain in intensive care units, it said.
By Saturday, 5,94,64,524 Iranians have received their first vaccine doses, 5,10,96,388 two jabs, and 54,78,443 in the country third booster shots.
A total of 4,13,88,312 tests have so far been carried out across the country.
On December 19, Iran detected the first Omicron case in a traveller who returned from the United Arab Emirates. (ANI/Xinhua)
( With inputs from ANI )
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