Iran's top leader urges 'decisive' measures to control Covid-19 spread

"The loss of more than 500 lives in one day and the grief of their families, as well as the infection of tens of thousands of people with their diseases and their medical problems, are really very painful so we have duties to deal with it," said Khamenei in his televised message. 

He lauded the Iranian president's one-week deadline to making decisions about the issue of coronavirus resurgence, saying that "necessary action should be decided and acted upon decisively." 

Khamenei also stressed the need to expand diagnostic tests and asked the government and insurance companies to make diagnostic tests available to all people free of charge, the Xinhua news agency reported. 

Moreover, vaccines, whether imported or domestically-produced, should be provided earnestly and made available to all people, he stressed. 

The armed forces also should do their best to help the people in dealing with the disease control, he said, advising people "to follow the (health) directives completely so that their own lives and the health of others are not endangered." 

On Wednesday, Iran registered 42,541 Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 4,281,217. 

According to Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the pandemic has so far claimed 95,647 lives in the country, after 536 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours. 

A total of 3,618,224 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 6,932 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said. 

By Wednesday, 13,893,310 people have received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine in the country, while 3,401,487 have taken two doses. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to activate measures for the increase in imports of the coronavirus vaccine. 

The government and all the institutions of the establishment, including the armed forces, must work with all their capacity to tackle the immediate issue of the Covid-19, said Raisi in the cabinet meeting, according to official IRNA news agency. 

The Iranian health authorities have warned of an alarming situation in the country amid the resurgence of a new variant of the disease, if new controlling measures have not been imposed and vaccination does not speed up.