(Reuters) – Some 50 members of Iran’s 290-seat parliament have contracted COVID-19, a senior MP said on Saturday as the Omicron variant spreads unabated across the county.

MP Alireza Salimi, speaking to YJC, a news agency linked to Iran’s state TV, said this week’s parliamentary session would be held in accordance with health regulations.

Due to an epidemic among MPs, Parliament was closed for two weeks during April. Several lawmakers were killed by the virus in the initial days of the pandemic.

After a short respite after mass vaccinations, Iran saw a spike in the number of cases. It has been reporting an average of over 30,000 infections per day in recent days. According to the Health Ministry, however, there were 23,130 new cases in 24 hours.

Iran is home to approximately 85 million people. It has experienced more than 6 million cases of infection and 132,500 deaths due to coronavirus since the outbreak.

There have been more than 50,000,000 people who have had two doses and over 19 million who have had three.

(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Frances Kerry)