Monday, Iran announced the imposition of extensive closure measures in and around Tehran, including the closure of government departments and banks for nearly a week, with the number of daily infections with the coronavirus rising to near-record levels.

These measures coincide with the Eid al-Adha holiday, which is celebrated by the Islamic Republic, the country in the Middle East most affected by the Corona pandemic, on Wednesday.

It comes after President Hassan Rouhani warned of a "fifth wave" of the epidemic, mainly due to the highly contagious Delta mutant.

The National Anti-Corona Virus Control Authority announced that the strict measures include the closure of government departments and banks in the neighboring provinces of Tehran and Alborz, from six in the evening Monday (13:30 GMT) until the morning of next Monday (July 26).

Entry and exit from the two governorates using private transportation will be prohibited, according to the authority, which recalled the need to close non-essential commercial establishments in areas classified at the red level, which is the highest on the locally approved epidemiological classification scale.

According to the Ministry of Health figures, Covid-19 in Iran has caused the death of 87,374 people out of 3,548,704 infected people. 

A number of officials have said the real number of infections is likely much higher. 

Monday, the ministry announced that 213 deaths and 25,448 cases of coronavirus had been recorded in the last 24 hours.

During a meeting of the anti-Covid-19 body Saturday, Rouhani criticized the decline in adherence to preventive measures, considering that this is one of the reasons for the increase in cases. 

He said that the rate of residents' adherence to preventive measures "has decreased to 48 percent, and this is a very low percentage."

He added, "Due to several factors such as the (presidential elections on June 18), (declining) adherence to health protocols, we are currently witnessing an increase in infections across the country."

It is the first time that the Iranian authorities have completely closed government departments and banks since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in February 2020.

Since then, the authorities have not imposed comprehensive closure measures similar to those adopted by many countries of the world, attributing this to the difficult economic conditions due primarily to the US sanctions imposed on the country.

Iranian officials have complained about the impact of sanctions on the possibility of importing anti-Covid-19 vaccines, especially due to the difficulty of making the necessary financial transfers in order to obtain them.

The national vaccination campaign launched in February is still progressing more slowly than hoped. Out of a total population of about 83 million people, 6.1 million received a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while only 2.2 million people received both doses.

In an effort to compensate for the shortage of imported vaccines, Iran has worked to develop domestic vaccine projects, two of which were recently granted emergency approval.