Iran may become the center of challenges in Middle East for outbreak of delta variant-COVID-19

Abstract

During the past three decades, the Middle East has been one of the important areas that has experienced three major viral epidemics. COVID-19 as a pulmonary disease was first reported in China in the early third decade of the 21st century and quickly infected Asian countries, the Middle East, and then the entire world. The pandemic has caused widespread financial damage and life-threatening, but the exact extent of the damage is still unclear. The high prevalence of COVID-19 has created fright in public societies and disrupted many everyday tasks. The disease has various clinical symptoms that are updated daily by different researchers. Many countries that do not have the sufficient tools to prevent, identify and treat the virus still have major challenges in controlling the disease. The Middle East, where Iran has been under heavy economic and political sanctions, has faced widespread disease and deaths due to lack of facilities. These challenges affected not only Iran but also many neighboring countries and other related countries. Recently, concerns have doubled with the outbreak of the delta variant-COVID-19 because the risk of hospitalization and the rate of spread are higher. The purpose of this review was to present the latest on the symptoms, pathogenicity and host immune responses, Etiology and Epidemiology, transmission routes and impact of Middle Eastern countries, especially Iran, and its role in the spread of the disease.