Iran reports highest daily Covid cases

Tehran, Aug 18 Iran's daily Covid-19 cases hit a new high on Tuesday by registering 50,228 new cases, taking the country's total tally of infections to 4,517,243.

The pandemic has so far claimed 99,108 lives in the country, after 625 new deaths were added in the past 24 hours, according to Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 3,786,488 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 5,163 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said.

On Monday, Iran started a six-day lockdown of all non-essential businesses across the country amid the resurgence of new Delta variant of the virus.