Tehran, Aug 22 (IANS): Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his first priority in the government would be to control the Covid-19 pandemic and improve the health situation in the country.

Addressing Parliament in defense of his nominated cabinet, Raisi said on Saturday that "accelerating public vaccination, implementing health protocols and improving treatment are top priorities of the (pending-to-form) government", reports Xinhua news agency

On Saturday, the Health Ministry reported 24,179 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infection tally to 4,640,695.

The pandemic has so far claimed 101,354 lives in Iran, up by 544 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 3,902,808 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 7,626 patients remain in intensive care units, according to the Ministry.

By Saturday, 16,476,257 people have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccines in the country, with 5,531,257 taking both doses.

Iran has been recently facing a resurgence of pandemic.

Health officials said that reasons for the sheer increase in infection rates since the end of June are the higher contagiousness of the Delta variant of the coronavirus currently spreading in Iran, and a decline in people's awareness of observing health recommendations.

Since August 16, Iran started a six-day lockdown of all non-essential businesses across the country to control the spread of the illness.