Tehran, Aug 19 (IANS): Iran reported on Wednesday 39,174 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 4,556,417.

The pandemic has claimed 99,691 lives in the country, after 583 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, according to a briefing published by Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education on its official website, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 3,814,127 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 7,490 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said.

By Wednesday, 16,049,045 people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the country, while 5,063,519 have taken two doses.

The official report added that 27,485,096 tests have so far been carried out across the country.

On Tuesday evening, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said that there were initial signs suggesting that the current surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths in Iran could have reached its peak, and the number of daily new cases might start to decline.

The infection and hospitalisation rates are stable in 14 Iranian provinces and the spread of the epidemic is on the decline in these regions, the official noted.

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