TEHRAN (Iran News) – President Hassan Rouhani said some restrictions might be reinstated in the country as the Health Ministry reported the highest single-day death toll in nearly two months.

Addressing the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus on Thursday, President Rouhani said if the people’s non-compliance with the health protocols leads to the resurgence of the coronavirus in the country, we will have to reinstate some restrictions in the country, according to the president’s official website.

Despite the health sector’s preparedness for the resurgence of the coronavirus in the country, president Rouhani pointed to the people’s key role in the fight against the disease.

Iran’s health officials have voiced alarm over a surge in infections, urging the nation to respect health protocols to control the spread of the disease.

New figures

Iran’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 207 to 25,222 from Thursday to Friday, according to the Health Ministry. It was the highest single-day death toll since the ministry registered 216 deaths on August 1.

The ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Friday that 3,563 new cases were identified during the same period, bringing the total number of positive cases to 439,882 in the country, the hardest-hit by the pandemic in the West Asia.

Of the new cases detected, 1,708 patients have been admitted to the hospital, Lari added.

At least 369,842 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 4,023 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions, Lari said.

She also said more than 3,879,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

Since the virus outbreak in the country in February, Iran has been trying to produce a vaccine to treat coronavirus patients.

Vaccine production

On Friday, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali Iran and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund are discussing the joint production of a vaccine against COVID-19, Reuters reported.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has said it is in talks with a number of countries about the possibility of producing the Russian ‘Sputnik-V’ vaccine abroad, and has signed a deal to manufacture 300 million doses in India.

“We are holding talks, I spoke with the head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev, our officials have held several rounds of consultations and we announced that we will co-operate,” Jalali said.

“We announced that we will cooperate in two-three areas. That includes joint production with Russia. Iran has great potential to produce the vaccine,” Jalali was quoted as saying by Russian media.

Iran’s Health Minister Saeid Namaki said in late June that an Iranian version of COVID-19 vaccine had shown promise in tests on animals.

International race to develop a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 has accelerated in recent months.

In August, Russia became the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine.