Tehran, April 24 (IANS) The Iranian health ministry on Friday reported 22,904 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 2,358,809.

The pandemic has so far claimed 68,746 lives in Iran, up by 380 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.

A total of 1,850,791 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 5,107 remain in intensive care units, she noted.

The spokeswoman added that 14,966,149 tests have so far been carried out across the country, the Xinhua news agency reported.

As of Friday, 563,810 people have received the first dose of coronavirus vaccines and 154,700 people got the second dose.

On Friday, Mahmood Vaezi, head of the presidential office, told official IRNA news agency that the priority of the government is to acquire Covid-19 vaccines from abroad.

Medical staff first receive the vaccines in the country, and the elderly with background diseases are the second group of vaccine priority, said Vaezi.
"As promised, all the government's efforts are to produce and use the domestic vaccine in spring and early summer," he added.

Currently, Iran implements restrictions on businesses and traveling in high-risk areas amid a new wave of the virus spread in the country.

Iran reported first cases of the disease in February 2020.

--IANS int/rs