Tehran, March 10 (IANS): Iran will begin its Covid-19 vaccination program for the country's general population using the domestic jab, COV-Iran Barekat, an top official said.

"We have a big potential in the mass production of this vaccine, and after the next two to two and a half months, we will not have any concerns about stocks of Covid-19 vaccines," Xinhua news agency quoted Mohammad Mokhber, head of the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam Khomeini (HEOIK), as saying on Tuesday.

Speaking during the unveiling of a mobile hospital in Tehran, the official said the vaccination program is expected to be launched in May.

Mokhber noted that the mobile hospital being inaugurated is the biggest of its kind in Iran, and explained the necessity for its creation pointing to the frequency of earthquakes and floods in remote areas of the country.

The hospital has 99 beds, two operating rooms, a delivery room, an ultrasound machine, a mammogram, an emergency room, a pharmacy and "all the equipment of an advanced hospital", Mokhber said.

Also on Tuesday, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health and Medical Education Sima Sadat Lari reported 8,554 new Covid-19 cases which raised the country's overall count to 1,706,559.

Between Monday and Tuesday, Sadat Lari said 81 additional fatalities were registered, making for a death toll of 60,867 so far.

As of Tuesday, 1,456,759 Covid-19 patients recovered, but 3,811 others are currently in critical condition in intensive care units.