TEHRAN – More than 30 members of the Iranian parliament have contracted the coronavirus and up to ten are hospitalized, MP Abolfazl Aboutorabi said on Sunday.
The lawmakers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past few days, he said, adding the parliament’s presiding board has asked all the lawmakers to be tested in order curb the spread of the virus.
Alireza Salimi, a member of the presidium, said 10 lawmakers have been hospitalized with complications.
Another MP said parliament members attended the Saturday session although some of them had tested positive for the virus.
Iran’s Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced the start of the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country on Thursday, with hospitals reporting increasing number of the omicron cases.
“Unfortunately, we should declare that we have practically stepped into the sixth wave with the rise in hospitalization and outpatient cases,” Einollahi said, urging people to get booster shots.
Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s Covid-19 taskforce, has said the omicron variant is 64 percent more contagious than the Delta mutation, noting that tests are often unable to detect Omicron because of its similarity to common cold.