TEHRAN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iranian health authorities warned on Sunday about the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, as an increasing number of people are infected with the mutated coronavirus variant found in Britain and other countries.
The Shapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz, capital city of Khuzestan, has made a request for a two-week lockdown of the province over the surge, official news agency IRNA reported Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Health and Medical Education Ministry, said 7,931 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, of which 574 required hospitalization, according to the ministry's official website.
The new cases take the overall count of the country to 1,574,012.
Between Saturday and Sunday, 74 new deaths related to the coronavirus were registered, raising the death toll to 59,483, according to Lari.
A total of 1,344,791 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from hospitals, but 3,689 others are currently being treated in intensive care units, she said.
As of Sunday, 10,444,695 laboratory tests for COVID-19 have been carried out in Iran, the spokeswoman noted.
Currently, 11 Iranian counties, all of which in Khuzestan Province, are on red alert over a high risk of infection, while 52 counties are on orange alert, and 385 others on yellow or blue alert for a lower risk, according to Lari.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19, 2020. Enditem
