Iran orders 10-day lockdown amid 4th wave of COVID-19

Iran on Saturday imposed a 10-day lockdown in 23 of the country's 31 provinces to combat the spread of the fourth wave of COVID-19, state media reported. President Hassan Rouhani blamed the coronavirus surge on UK variant which spread to Iran from neighbouring Iraq earlier this year. Iran has reported over 20,000 infections over the past week, Health Ministry said.