TEHRAN – Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced on Sunday that four new cases of mutated COVID-19, which first emerged in the United Kingdom, have been identified in the country.

The patients are an Iranian family living in a European country who came back to Iran late last week, the minister stated, IRNA reported.

“Although the individuals have undergone a PCR test in the host country, after entering Iran, they were tested and the results showed COVID-19 infection of the mutated type.”

“Currently, the British mutated virus has spread to most European countries, and we have also established restrictions on the entry of people from these countries to Iran, including a negative PCR test.

So, all passengers from European countries will be tested for PCR and will be quarantined until the result is determined,” he explained.

On January 5, Iran announced the first case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant.

Last month, the Islamic Republic halted flights to and from the United Kingdom, preliminary for two weeks to prevent the transmission of the disease and to try to maintain public health.

COVID-19 new cases, toll

In a press briefing on Sunday, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima-Sadat Lari confirmed 5,968 new cases of COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of infections to 1,286,406. She added that 1,074,887 patients have so far recovered, but 4,664 still remain in critical conditions of the disease.

During the past 24 hours, 71 patients have lost their lives, bringing the total number of deaths to 56,171, she added.

So far, 8,153,264 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been performed in the country.

Lari noted that currently, 7 cities are in high-risk “red” zones, and 30 cities are in orange zone and 219 in low-risk “yellow” zones.

FB/MG