TEHRAN – Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced on Tuesday that the first case of infection with the mutated coronavirus, which emerged in the United Kingdom, has been identified in the country.

"We found the first case of mutated COVID-19 in an Iranian person residing in England, who came back to the country after a long time and was hospitalized in a private hospital. Repeated testing showed that the patient is infected with the new coronavirus strain," Namaki added, IRNA reported.

The person was cognizant of the situation and had come to Iran with a positive PCR test result and had been quarantined. Screening tests were done on [his/her] relatives, but no one proved to be infected, Namaki explained.

However, the patient is in good health and if any new cases are identified, we will rapidly announce to people and international organizations, he stressed.

Many countries have temporarily banned flights from the UK after the new outbreak, including Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, and so on.

Given the new situation concerning the infections to the coronavirus in the UK, Iran announced a two-week suspension of the flights on December 20 to prevent the transmission of the disease. In this line, all passengers entering Iran from England should undergo diagnostic tests.

Deaths below 100 for first time in months

For the first time in months, coronavirus deaths declined to below 100 in the country, as Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 98 COVID-19 mortalities during the past 24 hours, in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The total number of deaths reached 55,748, she stated.

Lari also confirmed 6,113 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 1,255,620. She added that 1,029,028 patients have so far recovered, but 4,829 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

So far, 7,885,416 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

Lari noted that currently, 4 cities of Sari, Amol, Ramsar, and Savadkuh are in high-risk “red” zones, 43 cities in orange, and 401 cities in low-risk “yellow” zones.

Due to the high prevalence of the disease, strict COVID-19 restrictions took effect on October 26.

The National Headquarters for Coronavirus Control started strict restrictions in 43 cities that had the highest rate of infection in the country. Ten days later, decisions were made to set new limitations on highly-affected areas for another 10 days, through which 46 cities undergone restrictions.

The plan divided cities into three levels of alert, namely red, orange, and yellow.

Another plan also went into effect on November 21, according to which all occupations, except for emergency services and basic food suppliers, get closed for two weeks in high-risk cities.

FB/MG