Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani says 35 million Iranians face coronavirus infection

Rowhani estimated about 25 million people in the country of 81 million have already been exposed to Covid-19, although official figures show 271,000 cases

He said Iran has not yet achieved herd immunity and people must united to ‘break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus’

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Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, chairing a meeting of the country’s coronavirus task force, says about a quarter of the population may already have been exposed to Covid-19. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:25pm, 18 Jul 2020Updated: 7:00am, 19 Jul 2020

Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani said on Saturday that 35 million Iranians may contract the coronavirus as the country still did not have herd immunity, although about a quarter of the population may have already been infected.

It appears to be the first time a senior Iranian official has indicated the country is seeking to defeat Covid-19 via herd immunity.

The virus has killed more than 588,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year.

Iranian President Hassan Rowhani chairs a meeting of the national Covid-19 task force in Tehran. Photo: AFP

Iran has been battling a resurgence of Covid-19, with figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May.

On Saturday, the health ministry reported another 188 coronavirus deaths and 2,166 cases of infection in the past 24 hours. That took the overall toll to 13,979 dead out of 271,606 cases since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February.