While health authorities in Iran have announced the seventh wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the government organized a “10-kilometer-long” ceremony to celebrate a religious holiday in Tehran. 

According to IRNA on Monday, the ceremony on Valiasr Street -- one of Tehran's main thoroughfares and commercial centers said to be the longest street in the Middle East, was organized on the occasion of Eid al-Ghadir, a Shiite commemorative holiday, claiming that it was the biggest gathering in the city ever. 

Similar ceremonies were also held in many cities across the country while the growing number of Covid-19 patients has prompted the Health Ministry to announce new restrictions. 

The spokesman for Iran’s Covid-19 taskforce, Abbas Shirozhan, said Monday that the number of fatalities due to covid-19 has increased 40 percent within the past week. Iran’s daily infection numbers have 5,000 cases daily, and deaths are growing in double-digit numbers.

According to epidemiologists, two new subvariant of Omicron, namely BA4 and BA5 -- which started in the African continent -- may soon prevail over the country.

The number of overall deaths in Iran since Covid-19 emerged in February 2020 has been 300,000 higher than in previous years, suggesting pandemic deaths may be more than officially reported.

Iran has reported around 141,000 deaths from Covid, the Middle East’s highest official level, leaving 160,000 more deaths unexplained.